


Drabble Roulette

by E350tb, EchoFour, Golddragon387, GSKashmir, Hadithi, loveluckylost, ResplendentChungus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-01-02 01:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 51
Words: 64,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21153194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E350tb/pseuds/E350tb, https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoFour/pseuds/EchoFour, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golddragon387/pseuds/Golddragon387, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GSKashmir/pseuds/GSKashmir, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hadithi/pseuds/Hadithi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveluckylost/pseuds/loveluckylost, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ResplendentChungus/pseuds/ResplendentChungus
Summary: In the Fall of 2019, eight writers met on a Discord server and wrote Steven Universe Fanfiction based on prompts every other week. The recipe is simple. The possibilities... are endless.





	1. Lion Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Resurrection

"So.” Steven sat quietly in front of lion, looking slowly over the pink beast. “You’re dead, huh?”

Lion’s soft, cold nose poked at Steven’s hips and belly as he searched for treats, making him giggle. “I don’t have anything else! You ate them all!”

With a disgruntled huff, Lion settled back down with his head on his paws. Steven mirrored, flat on his belly with his chin on his hands. “So, what made you so special? She had a whole pride of lions. Why you?”

Lion licked a paw.

“You’re smart,” Steven mumbled. “Almost like a person sometimes. You know when it’s important to listen. You know where to take me when I talk about stuff. You want to protect people. Is it because she brought you back with magic? Or were you already a super special lion?”

Lion licked Steven’s forehead.

The boy groaned, sitting back up and throwing his arms in the air. “Why a_ lion _ ? Why not a _ person _? Did she even try to save people? Did she just watch them all die and never even asked if she should bring someone back? Was there a reason why she didn’t do it? Is Lars going to start going crazy or falling apart next year? Why aren’t there other trees? How long are you gonna live? When did she even make you?”

Lion stood, and Steven’s heart skipped a beat. This was it. He had finally asked the right questions, finally solved the puzzle of lion. He was going to be scooped up, carried away to another secret hideout that held all the answers he craved.

And then Lion flopped back down with a little grunt, rolling over on his back in the sun.

“You’re just a dumb lion!” Steven shouted. “Why don’t you come with instructions? Why doesn’t any of this come with instructions? Mom could bring plants to life and heal cracked gems and she had a cool shield and canons and she can bring lions and people back from the dead and she was a Diamond so who even knows all the stuff she could do! Why wouldn’t she leave a book or something?”

He leapt to his feet and paced. “Dear Steven, Wow, things are gonna get really weird for you! Maybe I don’t want to talk about the Diamond stuff, but I have a lot of superpowers even Pearl doesn’t know about. Here’s everything I can do. Maybe you can do new stuff, and maybe my stuff will work differently from you. I dunno, but here’s a head start. Love, Mom. P.S. You’re a human being and that’s magical and special and also I’m always with you and aaaaaaaugh!”

Steven face planted into the sand and layed there, feeling his heart pound and his hands get shaky in that awful way that he didn’t have words to describe. He groaned and whined, trying to ride out the bad feeling until it went away, when Lion growled and grabbed Steven with a sheathed paw. Lion found himself held steady between lion’s forelimbs, his scratchy tongue bothering his neck each time he licked over Steven’s curls.

“I’m not a cub,” he whined.

Lion did not seem to care in the slightest, continuing his aggressive grooming.

Steven crossed his arms, looking around the beach. No one was around. No one could hear. No one would ever know. So he whispered, so soft he couldn’t even hear himself say it, “I hate my mom.”

The guilt slammed into him, setting his heart pounding and hands shaking yet again. He shouldn’t have said it. He shouldn’t have thought it. Dad loved her and Pearl loved her and everyone loved her unless they were bad and she was dead and he wasn’t supposed to think that. Oh no. Oh geez. He gasped for air and wished it would stop, wished he could shove the feelings back where they came from.

“There had to be a reason,” he choked out. “What’s gonna happen to Lars, Lion? What’s gonna happen to him?”

**BONUS to Alleviate Sadness**

“Oh, Steven,” Pearl said gently. “Rose was a huge fuck up like all the time. She should have brought loads of people to life but she was so dumb she literally never thought of it. I promise you, she accidentally cried over a dead lion and literally never thought about any consequences.”

Steven smiled, licking the ice cream cone Pearl had given him. “Thanks! I feel way better!”


	2. My Eternity Is Better With You In It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Resurrection

Sadie was about thirty-five years old when her congenital heart problems caught up to her. It came from her dad’s side of the family according to Barb, but she never expected it to matter all that much. But one day, when Sadie Killer and The Suspects were playing a secret show on the beach outside of the temple for Steven’s thirtieth birthday, Sadie missed a few words in the verse. Then the chorus. The last thing she remembers is what felt like an elephant stepping on her chest before blacking out. 

Sadie had awoken to see a very tearful Steven cowering away from her and all of her friends and family surrounding the both of them. She asked what happened and Steven answered, but he must have been mistaken. She looked around to everyone who was nearby, hoping to find some dissenting voice, but instead all she heard was Connie’s mom telling her she had no pulse. Sadie told her what she was feeling before blacking out, and Dr. Maheswaran paled.

A heart attack, she said.

At age thirty five, Sadie Miller had a heart attack and died.

Before Sadie could even ask what happened, Steven spoke up. He explained as best as he could, but it wasn’t an empirical science. All he could say was she died, he cried on her, and now she’s not dead. She brought her hand up to her mouth and noticed its new color, but it was really the furthest thing from her mind right now.

Slowly, as Steven explained more, everything started fading from Sadie’s consciousness. She heard him say the word “immortal,” and the implications of that made her ears start ringing.

She vaguely remembered being wrapped in a blanket and brought inside of the temple. She became more lucid when people had begun leaving the house, but she didn’t move. She couldn’t bring herself to. Even after Lars sat down next to her and asked for some time alone with her, she didn’t budge. She just stared a hole into the carpet on the floor.

It was quiet for a while. Everyone but her and Lars had shuffled out of the house and the only sounds she could hear now were the seagulls and the waves from outside. Her ears had stopped ringing, at least. It was a small step, but it helped.

“It’s okay to be scared, y'know.”

Sadie heard Lars talking, but didn’t respond. She just sat on the couch, hunched over and clinging to the blanket she was wrapped in like her life depended on it. But just because she didn’t want to move didn’t mean she wasn’t listening.

“I get it. Really, I think I might be the only one who does. Sure, the pink skin, lack of appetite, and the portal in your hair take some getting used to, but eventually you forget they were even an issue. The dead thing, though? That doesn’t go away.”

Sadie felt him shift a little on the couch. He got just a little bit closer, but didn’t touch her. He just hunched over right next to her until both of their heads were on the same level. He figured out where her eyes were looking and soon he started staring another hole into the same carpet.

“Steven told me about Lion. How he’s been alive way, _way_ longer than any normal lion. I’m the first non-animal he knows of that this happened to, but I think it’s a safe bet to assume we’re gonna be around for a long time. And Sades, that scares the shit out of me.”

Sadie let out an involuntary huff. Lars wasn’t sure if it was a kind of bitter laugh or not, but it was better than silence.

“I was so worried, you know? I’m gonna outlive my mom and dad, sure, but most people do that. Then I realized I would probably outlive most of the people in this town. I’m worried that I'll have to watch all my friends die. And then, you know, what happens when _I’m_ ready to go? _Can_ I die? Will I just wake up with bubblegum colored scars and a stronger urge to try harder next time? It sucks. It sucks a lot.”

Sadie started crying. Not sobbing, she didn’t make any noise, but tears were flowing slowly down her left eye. Lars sighed and continued.

“I actually punched Steven. _Really hard,_ too. Right in his face. Was about ten years ago. You were on tour I think. Everything I just told you, I bottled it all up. You don’t have to be a magic space alien to know how unhealthy that is. I tried to deal with it all myself and I just got so angry. It was his fault, right? I didn’t _ask_ for this. But then, neither did he. Anyway, I got in one sucker punch, but after that, I couldn’t get another hit in. He was just too good and I was just too angry. Eventually I got too tired to keep swinging and I thought he was finally going to hurt me, but he just… Just hugged me. I tried to push him off, but he was crying. Not from the punch, I’m not sure he even felt it, but because he was sorry.”

Sadie spared a glance at Lars. She didn’t move her body, but her eyes moved away from the carpet. It was a small step, but it was a good one. Any movement was good.

“Turns out, he has the same fears I do. He doesn’t know if he’s going to outlive Connie or his dad, or even you and me. He said it was the one thing he wouldn’t wish on anyone. He didn’t know his tears would bring me back from the dead, he’s just as clueless to all this as I am. Hell, even when he brought _you_ back it was an accident. He thought maybe he could just heal you if he was quick enough, but when his spit didn’t work, he just sobbed onto you. When he realized what he’d done, he tried to stop it, but it was too late. Your hair was already turning pink. And you know what? He would understand if you hated him. It’s okay to be angry. _Be_ angry if you feel it. They would understand. I know I do.”

Lars pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and lit it up. Sadie wondered when he started doing that, but considering his status as an immortal, lung cancer didn’t exactly seem like a looming threat. Absentmindedly, Sadie reached over without looking and grabbed one of her own. She held it out until Lars lit it before putting it in her mouth and inhaling.

When they both exhaled, Sadie started feeling marginally better. She thought maybe her mom would chastise her about it later, but she decided she didn’t care. She was dead, she can do what she wants.

“Sadie…” Lars began. He stumbled over his words, trying to say something, but he kept stopping himself before any words could come out beyond her name.

Things were silent again for a good couple of minutes. Lars took an increasing number of drags off of his cigarette.

“Fuck,” he said, sharply and suddenly. “I’m gonna sound super awful for this, but if I don’t say it, then you might feel as bad as I did, so in an effort to make sure you don’t have to go through what I did, here goes nothing… I’m absolutely relieved that this happened.”

Sadie immediately turned her head, ready to bite his head off, but she stayed quiet when she noticed his glassy eyes.

“I’m going to outlive so many people that I love, Sadie. I didn’t want this, I’m not ready for that, I’m so fucking terrified about all of this, but for the first time, I actually feel some palpable relief about my future. I’m so sorry that you have to live like this…”

Lars wiped his eyes with one of his sleeves before any of his unshed tears could fall onto his cheeks.

“But Jesus Christ, I am so glad neither of us has to do it alone…”

He took a long drag of his cigarette and let out a shaky breath before continuing. Sadie’s gaze slowly shifted away from Lars and back onto the carpet. She wasn’t sure if he really wanted her to see him like this, and she didn’t want to take advantage of his vulnerability.

“Sadie, I don’t know what the future holds for me. I’m always so uncertain about everything that it gets harder and harder for me to just live in the moment. I’m so concerned about questions nobody has the answers to. I have to learn just by living it, and that prospect makes me so unbelievably terrified. We’ve known each other for a long time, so I feel pretty confident in saying that you’re having the same feelings. So right now, I’m gonna make a promise to you.”

Lars took a deep breath and wiped his eyes again. The tears had stopped coming, but his eyes were still incredibly red. He’d been straining so hard to keep them back.

“When you’re awake at three AM trying desperately to fall asleep but being inexplicably afraid of dying again, I’ll be a phone call away to tell you what happened when I had those same feelings. When you’re avoiding the trip to the grocery store because you don’t feel hungry but you miss eating because it made you feel human again, I’ll be baking another ube roll cake for us both to enjoy and remind us of better times. When you’re about to throw yourself off the lighthouse to see if you can even get feel pain anymore, I’ll be there with x-rays of dozens of my broken bones. Whatever happens, Sadie, whatever this makes you feel, I want to help you. But if you aren’t ready to deal with any of this, if you want to just keep being you for as long as you can, that’s okay too. We’ve got all the time in the world.”

There was quiet again. Just the gulls and the ocean from the outside world, trying to enter the closed off space that was Steven’s house. Sadie didn’t move, but neither did Lars. For the first time in her life, Sadie didn’t think he was going to leave her alone.

She slowly let herself lean onto his shoulder.

It was a small step. But it meant the world to both of them.


	3. The Ticking Clock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Resurrection

Connie waited for three days after her eighteenth birthday. There’d been a party, a really nice one, and everyone was in such a fantastic mood. She didn’t want to ruin that. She was eager, but she was patient. She needed everyone to know that she was careful and measured and had thought this through.

She talked to Steven first. And he didn’t refuse outright. But he wouldn’t do what she wanted without another opinion. She suggested Pearl, and he agreed. So she dressed herself up a little. Put on a professional appearance. And she gathered Pearl and Steven and took them up to his room alone to talk.

“Do you know how long a lion lives, Pearl?” Connie said crisply as an introduction. She stood with her hands behind her back, addressing Pearl and Steven on his bed. Everything about her was poised and prepared.

Pearl frowned at the look on Connie’s face. “I believe it’s something like… ten years? Fifteen, maybe? It’s such a short time.”

“And Rose’s lions were in Buddy’s journal. Lion was one of them. The journal even mentioned his heart nose, so it was definitely him. Which makes him at least two hundred. Two hundred divided by fifteen is a little over sixteen. Sixteen times the age of any other lion.” She paced. “Sixteen years for every one he should’ve expected. And that’s assuming both that he’s about to die  _ and _ Rose resurrected him near the start of his life. It could easily be more like thirty. Maybe even fifty. Maybe there’s not even a limit, and he’s not aging at all.” Connie took a deep breath. “How long have you been on Earth, ma’am? How many years?”

“I--well, it’s something like seven millenia, I think.”

“Mmmhmm. And how many more years will you enjoy while I rot in the ground?” Connie bit hard, her eyes cold and calculating. 

Pearl choked on air. “C-Connie!”

“Connie.” Steven looked at her sadly. “You don’t have to hurt her to explain.”

She glanced at Steven and relented. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s not your fault.” Her eyes softened just a bit. “You didn’t decide how long gems live. Or how long humans do. You didn’t even know it was possible to do anything about it. You never knew about Lion until recently. I doubt you considered the implications before Lars. Maybe you still haven’t. I know humans have always been a blind spot for you. It must be hard to attach to something that’s gone so quickly.”

Pearl sat very stiffly, her hands on her lap. “Connie, we care very much for you. Your lifespan doesn’t change anything about that.”

“No, I guess it doesn’t. Not for you.” She sighed. She was losing her professional edge. It was too hard to keep it up around her mentor.

“What is the point of all this, Connie?” Pearl stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. “What are you driving at?”

She shrugged Pearl’s hand away and returned. “I’m making a case. Ma’am, you keep telling me that I’m a Crystal Gem. That I’m not like other humans. That I’m special. Do you mean it?”

Pearl looked at her, searching for something. “I do. Your drive and skill are like nothing I’ve seen. Is that what you want to hear? That you matter? Because you do. No one is ever going to forget about what you did for all of us. Especially for Steven.” Pearl sat back down and ruffled Steven’s hair, but he didn’t react at all. She slowly lowered her hand, unnerved. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“No.” Connie paced for a moment, trying to work up the nerve to keep going. This had been so much easier when she’d been professional. Now she was stumbling, just trying to keep going. “Pearl. Nearly every friend I have is a gem. I’ve dedicated my life to being like you and Steven and all the others. I’m… different.” She swallowed. “I kept going to school, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And everything I considered, I kept thinking, ‘How is this going to fit with the gems? What do I want to do that fits with them?’” She trembled a little, struggling to keep her anxiety under control. “Whatever I end up doing, it’s going to be with your people. Maybe humans too, but definitely your people.”

“I’m happy to hear that, Connie.” Pearl smiled warmly. “And you’re worried about being taken seriously? That gems will think your life is too short to matter? I promise, you can show them otherwise. You have before.”

Connie barked out a laugh. “Don’t lie, ma’am. The Diamonds considered waiting six millenia for the Cluster to be a minor inconvenience. My life on a gem timescale is a rounding error. Plenty of time for any changes I make to be forgotten or undone once I’m not around to see it.” She braced herself. “But… there’s a way to fix that.”

Pearl froze. “Connie. No.”

“Lion and Lars don’t look like they’ve aged a day since they were resurrected.” Her hands kept shaking. She was sweating. But she forced herself to continue. “I’ve talked to Lars. He’s lost his appetite, but for the most part, he’s still himself. Human. Just stretched out over who knows how long. And if all of my friends are gems, and I want to spend my life with gems, then shouldn’t I have a gem’s lifespan?”

“Connie, Lars  _ died! _ ” Pearl gripped the bedspread, struggling to keep control. “You’re asking for something we barely understand! What if something goes wrong? What if you die and Steven’s powers don’t work they way you think?”

“What’s the difference between eighteen years and seventy-eight to a gem, ma’am?” Connie answered, tears in her eyes. “Because that’s what I’ve probably got. At  _ most,  _ considering how dangerously I live _ . _ And you and Steven and everybody else can have a nice funeral and be very sad for a very long time. And that’s very, very nice to hear. But wouldn’t you rather me be around?” She swallowed. “I don’t want to be a memory, Pearl. I don’t want to leave Steven alone. I want to keep helping and fighting and doing good. And when it comes right down to it, Pearl, I just want to keep existing for as long as I can. Can’t you understand that? Didn’t you fight to give everyone on Earth the right to exist?”

“I…” Pearl’s voice warbled, and she wiped away tears. “I-I don’t know what to say, Connie.”

“That’s because you know I’m  _ right, _ ” Connie pressed. “You’ve protected me from gems a hundred times, ma’am. Why is the line here? Is it because of nature? Because if that’s it, I’m willing to bet that I won’t be the only human living that long. We move fast. We’re going to figure out how to stop death eventually, gems or no gems. And if it happens in my lifetime, that’s great, but I’m not willing to take that chance.” She grit her teeth. “If I died near Steven, this would happen anyway. And, like I said, that’s not the least likely thing in the world! So if it’s going to happen, I want it to happen on my terms. I waited until I was an adult, and now that I am… I should have the right.”

“What about your parents?” Pearl argued weakly. “They’ll--”

“Die before me? Yeah. That’s the way it goes. Kids outlive their parents. And they grieve, and they move on.” She rubbed her arm. “I don’t think they’d want this for themselves. But they’re normal. I’m not. And I’m an adult now. They can disagree, they can argue, but my life is mine.” Connie let out a shaky breath. “And I want this.”

“What if Steven refuses?” Pearl couldn’t pretend that she was the one in control. Both of her children were growing up, and her advice could only to be that: advice. But she could see Steven’s doubt, his fear. He wasn’t a child, but he could never be ready for a choice like this. That’s why he wanted her here.

“Then I’ll stay near him as much as I can.” Connie wilted. “I’m not going to  _ try  _ to die near him, if he refuses. But I want to know there’s a chance for me if it happens. So I’ll stay close. And try not to die… messy.”

Pearl tried a different tactic. “Well, couldn’t you wait a little longer? See if you grow more?”

Connie paused, letting a few second pass. “You can’t understand, ma’am. You don’t have a clock that’s running out. Every four seconds is a minute. Every day at least two weeks. If I wait four years and it turns out I do age after, then I’d be losing decades, Pearl. Maybe centuries.” 

Connie paced, trying to keep calm as she continued. “I… I’ve been thinking about this for years already. And I was patient. But if I don’t do it now, it’ll be so easy to put it off and off, and what if I get old and it doesn’t work anymore?” She covered her face. “It’s not an easy thing to do or to ask for. But it’s the right choice. And if you both tell me no, if you refuse to help me, then you can’t just say it was my time when I die. Because you’ll know you had another option.” For a moment, she let her gaze grow hard again as she stared Pearl down. “And I won’t forget that, Pearl.”

For a few moments, they stared each other down. Steven glanced between them, nervously awaiting Pearl’s answer.

And Pearl broke first. She lowered her head. “You’re right,” she murmured. “I can’t know what aging is like. I can’t feel time catching up to me. If this is what you want, Connie, then… I understand. It’s your choice, if Steven is willing.”

Connie walked slowly to her mentor and gave her a hug. “In a thousand years, I’ll remember this,” Connie murmured. “Thank you. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

And Pearl gently, with infinite grace, pushed her away. “You did it on purpose,” she answered quietly. “Just because I agree doesn’t mean I’m happy with you, Connie. You can’t just say you’re sorry and expect me to forgive when we both know you did it to manipulate me.” Pearl stood and collected herself. “And in a thousand years, I’ll remember  _ that. _ ”

She walked downstairs and left Connie and Steven alone.

“Steven?” Connie turned to him.

“I’ll help,” he said hollowly. Tears streamed down his face. “Just figure out how to do it clean, and I’ll help.”

“Right. Thank you, Steven.” For a moment, she wanted to say something to lighten the mood, but it was all empty. Black humor never sat well with Steven. “I’m sorry,” she finally said.

“No. Pearl was right. You’re not sorry. But I get it.” He stood up too. “I’m gonna take a walk, Connie. Lion can take you home. Text me when you… figure it out.” She tried to give him a hug, but he sidestepped her and walked out.

And Connie was alone.

* * *

Three days later, Connie took her first breath of eternity.

The gems she loved didn’t trust her anymore. Her best friend could barely look at her. But she was resurrected. Her heart was a metronome, and the beats of her life came slow.

And she knew she would win them back eventually. It might take months, it might take decades, but they’d see. Eventually, she’d show them that she was right.

She had plenty of time.


	4. Strawberry-Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NB: Takes place post-movie. Prompt: Resurrection.

Steven and Connie sit on his bed upstairs, watching television. They’re lying down, side by side, not quite touching but close enough that they could. He’s wearing his pink jacket, one of his father’s old, black t-shirts, and jeans. She’s in a pair of denim overalls and has a light red shirt underneath. It’s mid-afternoon, and the two of them are alone in the loft- indeed, they are alone in the beach house. Steven is engaged with the program, blissfully oblivious as usual, but Connie has other things on her mind, and isn’t focused on what he’s watching; she repeats her mental tally, trying to soothe her own nerves.  _ Garnet- helping Bismuth, in Little Homeworld. Amethyst- hanging with Lapis and Peridot, in Little Homeworld. Pearl- Talking to the Diamonds’ Pearls about something; she didn’t say what but did mention she’d be offworld for the evening. Mr. Universe is at the carwash, and mom and dad are at home. It’s just us. _

Satisfied but still uncertain, she turns away from the show she isn’t really watching anyway. Propped up onto her elbows, hands fidgeting, her head turns left to her Jam Bud. Her mouth opens, a question on the tip of her tongue- but Connie hesitates. Steven lies on his chest, chin resting on his overlaid hands. Little squares of light, from the TV screen, dance in his eyes, and a brief smile dances across his face- someone she hadn’t been looking at had said something she hadn’t heard, and it must have been just a little funny- she’d seen that expression time and time again, on that face. It was as round as it had always been, and while some of the physical softness had gone away as he’d grown, Steven’s kindness and quick smile kept him... spiritually soft. Comforting to look at.  _ Friend-shaped _ ! Steven isn’t the only one with a little smile, then, as she thinks, gazing at him... 

Something catches Steven’s eye, and they flick to his right- right at her.  _ Oh, gosh, I’ve been staring too long! _ The question Connie was going to ask falls back into her mind as her face reddens, her eyes focusing on her hands. He blinks, his smile widening, as he rises up a little to put their eyes on the level, planting his left hand behind his ear. As he lies on his side, now, his left eyebrow inches up, and he speaks before she can collect herself;

“What’s on your mind, Strawberry?”

“O-oh, um... Nothing!”  _ Oh, no, definitely  _ _ not _ _ nothing! We have to ask him! We can’t! What if we’re wrong about... _ “...Well, nothing you need to worry about, Biscuit.” Her conflicting dialogues shift her eyes from her hands, past her overalls, to her feet back by the pillows, and finally back to Steven’s curious face. She feels her face flush further as their eyes meet.

Steven narrows his eyes as Connie’s rise up to meet them, then he shifts his gaze- he’s the one analyzing her face, now. His eyes come to rest on her burning cheeks. His voice is suspiciously calm as he replies with “If it’s nothing I need to worry about, then why is my Strawberry so much more... strawberry-shaded than usual?”

One of her free hands rises to her cheek-  _ Gosh, I must be really red- I  _ _ definitely _ _ can’t ask him like this... I have to distract him! _ “W-well, maybe it  _ is _ something I’d tell my Jam Bud...” She forces her face into a defiant smile, shifting her form into a more defensive position, legs tucked closer to her body. “But I’d never tell  _ you _ , Diamond-serving loyalist clod! You couldn’t even torture it out of me!”

A moment’s hesitation, a feigned moment of confusion-  _ Oh, gosh, Steven please realise it’s a game? _ Before she sees his right index finger curling and uncurling along the white comforter, inching towards her stomach. Steven’s eyes harden with determination- he will find what she’s hiding!

His voice deepens past his normal 16-year-old pitch as he intones “Ah, but for a human member of the Crystal Gems, so hardened against Homeworld’s true Diamond leaders, there is of course only one method of torture we could possibly use!” He follows Connie’s eyes- she’s seen his hand, figuratively and literally, so he brings his right hand up, prepares to strike. They both know what’s coming- it’s an old, familiar game, this one. They both tense up, her to guard, him to pounce, and as he scoots across the bed towards her he shouts “Tickle Torture!” and goes for her right side. He finds no purchase, however, as she rolls over- but he had expected this! His left hand goes in for her unguarded left side- her left hand grabs at it, but his right draws back from its feint- finally, he gets some gently pressing strokes in on her side. Her coyly defiant face dissolves into giggles until her own right hand can move his away.

“Talk!” shouts the aggressor, his voice returned to normal. They wrestle briefly, gem-enhanced weight against honed human muscles, before she catches her breath enough to respond.

“Never!” The human (feigning defenseless) squeals with laughter as she proves to be no match for her stronger attacker- his fingers again scribble feverishly against her overalls. He’s holding back, they both know, but this display is a part of the game, too. Connie rolls over, trying to trap his hand- stop his scrabbling- under her weight. It works, for a moment, and she takes the opportunity to pull her limbs in closer, while he struggles.

Steven, hand finally free, measures his avenues of attack. Her hands are out to defend her left side, and she’s lying down on her right. Her feet are pulled in and facing away from him- plus he’s seen her kick stone apart before- too risky. Under her chin was never a particular weak point of hers, plus that’d put him in range of both of her arms... Her arms are out to defend her left side!

He goes in for the underarm tickle, she gasps, then clenches her jaw, shuts her eyes. Her legs start flailing, but he’s out of range, her arms wrap around his and she grabs his shoulders but his hands are still free, fingers still lightly, frantically dancing with her shirt as the stage. She can’t hold it in, that rich, bright belly laugh -how he adores that laugh!- that shakes the two of them as his hands push for a better grip, Connie squirms but he’s got her now, “Talk!” he exclaims, “Talk now!”

Connie breathlessly chuckles out another cry of “Never!” between laughter, and squirms away again and suddenly the bed isn’t beneath her shoulder or her side anymore and she’s falling to the floor, and still wrapped up in her arms he follows, and they’re both laughing now, a tangle of limbs on the floor beside his bed, two teenagers laughing happily without a care in the world. 

He sits on Connie’s stomach, now, there on the floor, and as he withdraws his hands from her, she releases his shoulders and lets her arms fall, crooked, beside her in a spread-eagle sort of fashion. He moves off of her, and looks her in the eyes again. Her eyebrows are arched up, her smile twists into a mournful frown, turning his own expression into one of confusion before she speaks, a dramatic lilt to her voice.

“Oh, cruel and careless gem torturer! Can you not see what you have done,” she begs, deepening his confusion. “You’ve shattered this soft, fragile, human! You’ll never get your information now!” She lets her head fall to the ground, shutting her eyes, forcing her expression to neutralize. Resting on the right side of her face, she opens her left eye and teases, “... unless you have the mythical healing powers of a Rose Quartz’ kiss in that gem of yours...” He hardly catches the mischievous look in her eye before she quickly shuts it again, playing dead. She waits, but he doesn’t move. She opens her eye again, and he’s still confused. She raises her head back up, looking Steven full in the face, exaggerating her tone and raising her eyebrows at him, saying “Your overexuberant torture methods have sent me  _ plummeting _ to my  _ death _ ! My  delicate human form couldn’t withstand the horrible fall, and I have  _ died _ as a result! If ONLY there was a  _ GEM _ around here who COULD  _ BRING ME BACK TO LIFE _ WITH A  _ MAGICAL HEALING KISS _ !” Connie punctuates this last by throwing her hands in the air above her head, before dropping them, and her face, back to the floor.

Connie waits. She can’t hear Steven moving from where he was sitting-  _ This isn’t normally how the game ends, have I gone to far? _ She questions herself just a moment, before turning her head and opening her eyes- 

There he is, face hovering just above hers. Her heart skips a beat. She sees a moment of fear in his eyes- too late, as the kiss he was moving to plant on her cheek lands elsewhere. Their lips meet, briefly, and each freezes at the softness of the other. They’re still, the kiss seems to last forever, their eyes locked together as they hesitate, unsure exactly how to proceed. They push apart, suddenly both breathing heavily, him towards the window, her back against the bed and they gasp at the same time before simultaneously saying, “I’m sorry!”

“Ah! Connie, I-I’m  _ so _ sorry, I didn’t expect you to move-” | “Ah! Steven, I-I wasn’t sure if you were going to-”

“And then you  _ did  _ and you saw me-” | “I just looked to see if-”

“And then we-” | “And then we-”

They paused, searching each other’s faces. They both see bright pink blushes spread across each other’s faces as they realise what they’ve done. Awkward, short, and accidental though it may have been, it’s still, in a way, their first kiss. Connie looks away from her best friend - _ If I’d just asked maybe this wouldn’t have happened so awkwardly _ \- then looks back, only to see he’s vanished.

The sliding door isn’t open, and she didn’t hear his feet on the stairs-  _ Where’s he gone? Oh, I knew I went too far too soon! What have I _ \- her anxiety is interrupted by a dull thud against the ceiling, and a familiar pink light. Looking up, she sees Steven’s arms hugging his legs tightly to his chest, his back to her, as he bounces off the ceiling again. He slowly turns in the air, and her heart soars at the sight of his face. Grinning widely from ear to ear, gem radiant beneath his floating shirt and jacket, his giddy laughter floating down to her, she can’t help but smile as well. Then, laughing, Connie asks “Won’t you come down so we can try that again, Biscuit?”  _ Then again, maybe it’s alright. ... I still should ask him, though. _ He plants his feet on the ceiling and closes his eyes, leaning towards her for another kiss. _But not just yet._

* * *

Steven is safely back down on the ground, now, and they sit, arms wrapped around the other. The two of them are still somewhat excited, unbelieving about their recent actions and maybe just a little relieved that everything’s fine and nothing’s gone wrong despite them. The Jam Buds are still strawberry-red, but their embraces are warm and their hold on each other is soft and loving. Connie pulls apart just far enough to look into Steven’s eyes- they’re closed and a contented smile plays around at the corners of his mouth. She’s less worried about her question, now that she’s pretty sure she knows the answer.

“Hey, Biscuit?”

“Yes, Strawberry?” 

“Are we... you know.  _ Dating _ , now?

Steven opens his eyes to look at her. “After that? We could be, if you wanted us to be.  _ I _ want us to be.” 

And she doesn’t hesitate, this time, and replies, “I want that too.” And she leans back into his chest, and they both close their eyes. And they sit there a while, content in the closeness of each other.


	5. All I Could Ever Want

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Resurrection

I, the great and lovable Peridot, awoke to the sight of many aesthetically pleasing gems leaned over me, crying. If you have not had this happen to you before, I would recommend trying it immediately. It truly is a wonderful experience, and the soft, grassy fields upon which my physical body lay only improved the situation.

“P-Peridot?” That was Lapis, by the sound of it. For once, her voice lacked a sardonic undertone; the only emotion I could infer being communicated was awe, and the beginnings of something that might soon become joy.

I raised one of my touch-stump-hubs in greeting, performing an approximation of a wave. “It is I,” I said, “The Wonderful And Beautiful Peridot.”

“Peridot!” That was Amethyst, pressing her face into my shoulder and rubbing it around. I believe Steven called it ‘nuzzling’? Whatever the word for it, it was…. oddly pleasant. “You’re alive!”

“Well I would sure hope so,” I said. “Not being alive would complicate the current situation tremendously.”

No one said anything, so I took a moment to look at everyone gathered above me. There was Lapis, tears still running down her cheeks - could she control those? I would have to ask later - Amethyst, raising her head from my shoulder to look at me with concern, Pearl, gnawing on her lower lip, Steven, with tears and snot and other assorted gunk making his face rather unpleasant to look at, and Garnet, quickly materializing a new pair of shaded eye-protectors.

...

Say, why _ was _ everyone so... emotional? Steven had once mentioned that beautiful scenery could have this effect on some life-forms, but the sunset wasn’t _ that _ pleasant and they weren’t even looking at it.

They were looking at me.

“...Is there a, a _ reason _ me being alive is noteworthy?” I said, hoping to the stars I was interpreting Amethyst’s comment incorrectly.

“You, you don’t remember?” Steven inquired.

“Remember what?”

He swallowed audibly and looked away. Was he uncomfortable? About what?

Pearl cleared her throat. “Peridot, there was… do you remember the Euclase?”

Euclase? “I… I know what Euclases are, but I don’t remember seeing one recently. Why? What happened?”

Pearl, like Steven before her, averted her eyes and said nothing. It appeared that, whatever happened, it was not something they felt comfortable discussing.

Garnet was the next to speak up. “There was a rogue Euclase who came to earth. She was a diehard Empire Loyalist, and she concluded that Steven had done something to the diamonds. She came here to force him to undo whatever he did, but since he couldn’t undo _ nothing _, we… it turned into a fight, and…”

“And she shattered you,” Lapis said, voice barely above a whisper.

She-

She shattered-

I-

...

“Oh.”

I was- I had been-

Shattered.

I had been shattered.

I had been _shattered_.

The reality of it was- daunting. I had been _ shattered! _ If Steven hadn’t had the powers required to resurrect me, I would be... gone. Forever. Never again having the chance to hear Amethyst tell a joke, or see Lapis smile. She had started doing that so much lately...

I could have lost that, lost _ everything. _

“Are you- are you okay?” Amethyst, this time, arms still wrapped around my shoulders. A less literal part of me wondered if her hold was containing the multitude of emotions swirling inside me.

“My physical form has no noticeable abnormalities,” I said, though I was well aware that wasn’t what they were asking. Was my mental state decent? Well, for an abnormal application of the word, sure...

“Peri, I’m being serious,” Amethyst said.

_ Was _ I feeling fine? Quite honestly, no; I had _ died_, this was no minor thing. In just a moment, every fear I ever had- of losing Amethyst and Lapis and Steven and even Bismuth and Pearl and Garnet, of leaving Lapis on her own, of the _ cessation of my existence- _ had come to pass, and it was only by a diamond-induced miracle that it had been reversed.

I glanced at Lapis’ face. It was marred with worry. She already had so much to endure, could I really...?

“I’m okay,” I said, forcing a chuckle. “Rather shaken up by the news of my own shattering, but I simply require a minute to process that and I’ll be good as new.”

There was silence.

“Peri, you don’t have to lie,” Amethyst said. “You- you were shattered! It would be more concerning if you really _ aren’t _ bothered by it!”

“B-But I’m not!” I lied, trying with all my willpower not to look at Lapis. “I-I’m fine, really, it’s not-“

“Peridot.” Lapis. She was- frowning, upset. Why? “Please, just- don’t. You’re a terrible liar.” Without another word, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug, my face resting on her shoulders.

Without any instructions, droplets of saltwater began to fall from my vision-orbs. Tears. “I- I apologize, I just- I didn’t want to, to-“

“It’s okay,” Lapis said, quietly. “Just, just let it all out.”

I wrapped one arm around Lapis and the other around Amethyst, the frequency of my tears increasing. The others joined in on the impromptu group hug, until I was surrounded by limbs and support and love.

That was all I could ever want.


	6. New Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Resurrection
> 
> Chapter warning: brief description of dead bodies.

Organic life is a fragile, fickle thing.

It’s like the blue supergiants, those massive rare stars pulsing with raw energy at distant corners of their galaxy. For the relatively short period they’re active they shine with a luminosity beyond almost anything else in the cosmos. She’s not ashamed to admit they’re still an enigma to her— raw, powerful light that’s transcended beyond concrete form, yet limitless in its beauty, in its innate capacity to physically mold the future of the cosmos around them. To inspire an infinity of stories from a species who devotedly traces their positions in the black of night. To instill a wordless awe within anyone who truly _sees_ them as they are, Gem or not.

And yet... _and yet. _

Nothing lasts forever, not even the brightest starlight. It’s a fact of existence she simply can’t ignore, as much as she’d like to: the fact that those blue supergiants, despite their grandeur, have a set obsolescence date. Just like humanity. Just like every organism living here on this Earth. Because those stars, once they burn through their final reserves of hydrogen and helium at the very end of their oh-too-short lives, they can’t go on shining anymore. Instead their remains supernova and then collapse inwards, compressing smaller and smaller and smaller until— in terms of their cherished light now missing in her diamond sky— its almost as if they never existed at all.

Despite everything, Rose is certain she loves this world. Its sights, its experiences, its creatures. She’s certain she wouldn’t decide differently, if given the choice between Earth and Homeworld all over again. But as centuries pass around her like she’s standing still, as civilizations rise and fall just like the constellations they worship, as the humans she plays with— despite her attempts at healing— inevitably grow frail and die again, and again, and again... it’s becoming harder to stay out of the shadows. Harder to find but a hint of silver lining in all of this, in life’s helplessness to time’s decay.

After all, even the stars grow cold.

Sooner or later, every organic creature does too.

...

That is, that’s what she used to think.

* * *

The landscape is mocking her.

An azure blue sky meeting dunes of golden yellow. The brightest star— white, leering, singular— beating down wave upon wave of heat in the wilds of this untouched desert.

And then there’s her, the tiniest feature of this cosmic portrait. Pink. Helpless.

Ignorant.

Oh, so ignorant to the ways of this planet.

The disease strikes the entire pride with such silent ferocity that Rose doesn’t have the opportunity to heal them from it before they’ve all dropped dead. She swears she never intended for it to turn out like this. She only left them on their own for a a few days or so. That’s it! Barely any time at all. It’s what she’s always done in recent years, alternating between life at the Crystal Temple with her friends and her private meditations out here in the desert with her animal companions. When she warped away, there had been eleven of them, and once she returned...

Eleven bodies, laying lifeless and limp upon the sand. No blood, no signs of struggle. Just a heavy stench laying thick across the cleaning. There’s flies buzzing around their picked-over carcasses, the state of their decomposition a record of the timeframe in which each of them died.

It’s as if the in the matter of days they all simply succumbed to the inevitability of decay, buckled, with no witness.

Things might’ve been different in another context. As if her gemstone is secretly a sapphire instead, every river of possibility pummels her mind like a tidal wave. _If only she’d have payed more attention. If only this virus exhibited stark physical symptoms she would’ve been able to recognize before it was too late. If only she never grew so emotionally attached to these beautiful, free-roaming creatures in the first place._

A hoarse sob forcing its way to the surface, she collapses to her knees next to the most recently departed, the folds of her dress billowing out around her in the scratchy sand. She must have arrived mere minutes too late, because this lion’s body is still clinging to the last threads of warmth. She buries her face in his mane, griping thick strands of his fur in quivering fists as she openly dry sobs, messy and raw. He was the youngest adult male of the bunch, mischievous and aloof but so, so affectionate to the others. Affectionate to her, even if she didn’t deserve it. He was so beautiful in life, and so beloved, and now he’s gone. Because of her. Because once again, she failed to protect. Because she left for too long, treated these creatures as nothing but mere playthings she could leave behind and come back to at whim and didn’t fully appreciate the treasure she had until it was too late.

As she mourns his body, a deep, stabbing ache slashes through her form like one of Pearl’s spears, starting from the gem at her belly and radiating outward. Distantly, her thoughts wander to stories she used to hear back during the rebellion, stories of Gems becoming so distraught with emotion that they destabilized and dissipated their own forms. She almost hopes that’s what this is. That after every mistake, she too can just... stop. If only for a moment.

Liquid pools at the corners of her eyes. Eventually, the crushing despair becomes too much to hold inside.

Like a supernova bursting outwards from the heart of a dying star, she too falls apart.

The tears openly stream down her cheeks and off her chin, settling upon the lion’s cooling skin.

Moments pass like millennia.

And then...

Through her interwoven eyelashes, she catches flickers of a soft pink glow. It’s dim at first, merely a faint dwarf star on the edge of the endless horizon. But then hydrogen ignites, and the star grows ten times brighter. The glow’s radius expands. She gasps in awestruck wonder, glittering eyes opening wide. Pulling back, away from the still body to try and understand what is it that’s happening.

Beginning from the point at the lion’s mane where she shed her tears, a wave of light slowly washes outwards. It floods across his form, over limbs and fur, the air all around him sparkling with an aura of deep magic.

The light pulses... and then recedes. And what’s left in its wake is enough to make Rose Quartz reconceptualize everything.

He’s pink.

And breathing.

And _alive._

Beyond all odds.

The lion gives a heavy yawn, as if he’s merely woken up from a long nap. Lazily, he rolls over on his belly... an action that causes her breath to hitch in the sheer significance of it all.

Gently, she brushes her fingers through the lion’s soft pink fur, marveling at the muscles shifting underneath. He gives her a soft rumble in response. Wholly trusting, his eyes flutter shut as she continues to pet his belly, vies to prove to herself that he’s still here, still solid, still tangible, still inexplicably and wonderfully _alive, _despite all odds. A laugh passes through her lips, breathy and hoarse.

Her cheeks are still damp with the tracks of the miracle that resurrected him.

Despite everything, despite Earth’s suffering, its illnesses, her own tears and anguish, Rose is certain she always loved this world. An unattached love, surrounding oneself with life yet inwardly, still observing from a safe distance. She always thought it was better that way.

But perhaps she’s wrong. Like her fears, like the selfish Gem that exists as a warning in her past, like every other ill-fated mistake she’s ever made.

Perhaps, she muses, the memory of grief and healing tears and wonder seared upon her mind... she’s never _truly_ understood what it’s like to love anything distinct from Gemkind before today.


	7. Emotional Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Harmony
> 
> Stevonnie never really unfuses anymore. Lars doesn't really age. The world keeps passing them by.
> 
> Spooky drabble for a spooky time of year

"Lars," Stevonnie whined, diamond eyes burning brighter than the sunset. "Play with us."

The house was cold and empty, and the fall breeze Stevonnie brought with them through the open door made him shiver. Lars muttered as he turned away, "I'm not in the mood. But you can stay if you want."

"You're never in the mood anymore," they sighed.

"I've been through a lot!" he snapped. “I don’t want to play fighting games every day when I feel like this, alright?”

"Oh, no. This is about your parents again." Their eyes widened and they swept in for a hug. "I'm so sorry, Lars! I must look like the biggest jerk right now. I know you've been on edge ever since you told Steven not to save them."

"Not to resurrect them," Lars said quickly, wiggling out of their arms. "I would've asked you to save them if you could."

"Right. Sorry." They groaned. "I'm just so dumb today."

He softened, just a little. "You're not dumb. You're just confused with all the magic stuff. I get it. Ever since you two started fusing all the time, things have been weird."

"I know. Permanent puberty," Stevonnie sighed, looking down at their forever mid-twenties shape, and sunk to the floor miserably. "Steven and Connie are both pretty sure they're stuck at sixteen. Maybe if I stopped existing, they could finally grow up, but..."

Lars settled down beside them. "I'm sure they'll get there. Life has been hard for the last couple decades. People are getting older but they keep treating us like kids. At least you two have each other. That’s got to be nice."

"It's so nice, Lars," they said softly, putting their hand on his. "It's wonderful. We're never alone, and we're learning so much. We have so many talents together! Steven is even learning about powers he never even thought to question."

He asked, "New powers?"

"Mmm.” Stevonnie looked uncomfortable as they shrugged. “It's weird. It actually works better when we're separate." 

“That’s different,” he said, nudging them softly. “Want to tell me about it?”

They smiled. "It's hard to harmonize with only one voice, so I'm not the best tool for the job. But it hurts so much to be apart, to remember that neither of them are growing up anymore."

He winced. "Yeah. If I could just look like an adult whenever I wanted I'd take it too. I wish I'd gotten a couple more years before turning pink. Would've made everything easier."

"Steven's really sorry about that," Stevonnie said. They reached up to wipe their eyes. "He wishes he could help, more than anything. And maybe... Maybe he can a little? Do you mind if we try something?"

"Try what?" he asked.

"Our harmony power. But we've got to be separated to do it. So it'd be really nice if we could be..." Stevonnie whined. "It's so stupid, but can we do it really in private? Somewhere no one would ever find us? The thought of anyone but you seeing us apart is awful."

"When?"

"Now. Right now." They beamed. "Please? It might really cheer you up!"

He hesitated. There was something something off, and years of space pirate instincts rarely led him astray. But it was Stevonnie - Steven and Connie. Sure, they were definitely a little weirder now that they had spent twenty years as teenagers, but wasn’t he? And it had to be them. Their gem was prominently displayed on their navel, and no one could mimic that. So he nodded. "I guess anything is worth a shot."

They eagerly led him to a warp, and took him from the setting sun of Beach City to the lovely shadowed day in an old growth forest he had never seen before. The only interruption was the briefest detour for Stevonnie to grab Steven's guitar from his home.

Lars leaned against a tree. "Okay. What's the big surprise, you two?"

Stevonnie closed their eyes, concentrating hard, and a full minute passed before they fell apart. They had been struggling with that lately. Steven and Connie hadn't aged a day, yet again, and both still looked exactly as they had the day Spinel attacked the earth. Mostly.

Because there were the Diamond eyes. They had shown up a decade ago - the pointed pupils and pink irises that flashed in the dark. Stevonnie had them. Steven had them. But in the dim light of the forest, Lars could see the glowing pink from Connie as well. And, for some reason, he felt his heart leap into his throat.

"I see why you're not unfusing in front of people anymore," he said, voice a little raspy.

Connie smiled timidly, leaning down to create a flickering, barely there bubble around a rock. The pink light burnt out in almost an instant, but it was there, and Lars forgot how to breathe. 

She whispered, "I'm still Connie. Nothing's really changed. We're just us, Lars. But even together all the time, it still gets so lonely."

Steven took her hand leaning against her. "At least we have each other and the gems. But Lars, you… I'm sorry. I wish I could make it easier."

"Isn't that why we're here?" Lars asked. 

"**You're right,**" they said, voices meshing in perfect harmony. They laughed at his startled face, and alternated as they spoke.

Connie said, "We've been asking a lot of questions and studying hard." 

"And I've been practicing with all my powers."

"**And we've been doing it together, so it's going great**!" They giggled, nuzzling at each other. 

It really should have been sweet, but Lars found himself looking back at the warp and wondering why he had let them take him to the middle of nowhere. "What powers?"

Steven strummed slowly at his guitar. "Singing. Helping other people join in. Making them understand how I feel. That's what music is great for, right?"

"Your songs are catchy," Lars agreed nervously. Should he portal out? It was _ just _ Steven and Connie. So what if they were pinker? He was pink! He didn't like when people judged him for it. But something was wrong, it crawled along his spine and made his shoulders ache with adrenaline and he took a few steps back.

And then, in perfect harmony, they sang, "**_Why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are__?_**" 

Everything melted away. He couldn't leave. He didn't _ want _ to leave. The breath he was holding left him in a shuddering gasp. "What's happening?" 

The guitar started to strum, a new tune, and Connie’s cheerful singing voice began, "_Well you know, it works best when your heart's beating out of your chest, and just a note or two can bring it right on back to where it belongs._"

"_And we know, it's a fright, but if you manage to calm down tonight, _ ” Steven finished. _ “You might find that you'll really enjoy singing along. _"

Every note strummed through his heart, leaking tension and pulling his fear and anger down and down, until he realized he was leaning towards them, walking towards them, and forced himself to be rooted to the spot. "Get out of my head, Steven!" he snapped. "I didn't like it the first time!"

They leaned back to back, four glowing eyes pinning him in place as they harmonized. "**_The world's getting lonely, and we thought if only, someone might give it a try. It only hurts an instant - just a moment of non-existence. So why not pick someone to die?”_ **

There was no fighting back. Each syllable slammed into him, set his head reeling as loneliness and longing built and built inside him, until he suddenly found himself on the brink of tears. "What are you talking about?" 

Steven strummed once, dropping the song with a grin. "We'll pink our friends."

"It'll be easy as Stevonnie, you won’t have to do anything,” Connie promised eagerly, as delightedly as when they begged him to sneak them beer over a decade ago. “And once they're pink, everyone will stop getting older, like us! Or at least do it a lot slower."

"You're talking about killing people!" Lars shouted. 

"**Only for a second,**" they retorted.

Connie continued, singing a brand new tune again, "_ And you know it wouldn't hurt so bad once people give up this living fad. _"

"_And it'd be nice to get back to being glad, _" he finished, then covered his mouth and stumbled back. "I didn't mean that!"

The two laughed, and Steven’s fingers strummed at his guitar. "_ You can already feel it in your heart." _

"_So play along and do your part, _" Connie added.

Then, again in harmony, "** _You know it would be awfully smart._ **"

"_And it'd be nice to get back to being glad, _" he finished again. They were smirking like they’d pulled the greatest prank, and he stormed up to them. He tried to snag Steven’s shirt, but Connie’s ankle hooked his, knocking him down flat on the forest floor. He growled up at them. "This isn't making me feel better!"

“I know. You’re confused,” Connie said coolly.

“Discombobulated,” Steven said with a grin. “We have to keep changing the song on you. It works better that way. Sorry I couldn’t write you something nicer, but we have to come up with it on the fly.”

He scrambled to his feet and shouted, “You’re messing around with fucking _ possession, _Steven!”

Connie snorted. “It’s emotional control, Lars. Possession is very different.”

“I don’t care!” He brought back his fist to hit one of them, either of them, it didn’t matter if only they would stop-

Steven's guitar slowed, becoming more morose as they sang, "**_Aren't you tired of fighting? Aren't you tired of work? Aren't you tired of screaming and lying and always being a jerk?_ **"

Lars stumbled under the weight of it, the song slamming onto his shoulders like a blow. His emotions plummet down into despair and heartbreak, down to the moments of his mother’s funeral. His father’s. With Sadie starting to really, really look twenty years older than him while he was stuck in his seventeen-year-old body. She deserved better out of him. They all did. And…

"**_Aren't you tired of heartbreak? Aren't you tired of pain? Aren't you tired of dying and crying and people who just won't remain?_ **"

And Sadie was going to die someday.

"We’re tired too, Lars," Steven whispered, kneeling beside him. "We don't want to see our friends get old anymore."

"What happened to you?" he sad, swiping at the tears in his eyes.

"Well, once the Diamonds accepted Stevonnie, we got to be them all the time. And Stevonnie’s good at everything, so there's no challenge anymore." Connie sighed, shrugging and holding her hand up in a perfectly posh Pearl pose. "Now that the Diamond's do anything we ask they're really boring. And don’t even get me started on the gems."

"We need more friends," Steven insisted. "More people for the harmony. The more people join in, the stronger it'll be and the better it’ll feel. Who knows what stuff we could do then?"

"And we'd even be able to be Stevonnie for it!" Connie added eagerly. "They'd finally have a real challenge again!"

They looked longingly at each other. "**And we wouldn't be alone.**"

"You have me!" Lars cried.

Steven stood, and they both looked down at him with smirking contempt. "**_We have you? Just one guy? Someone on whom we can’t rely. Come on, Lars, could you ever really be enough?_ **"

It hurt, everything was big and aching and he was really pathetic, wasn’t he? What could he ever say? What could he do to change their minds when they were so… right. Perfect. He could only hope to be a part of the harmony, and didn’t he want to be? Maybe he could bring it around. Maybe he could change their minds if he tried to reach their level.

So he sang. "_I know you're alone. I know you're lost. But you have to think about the cost- _"

"B**_ut we have, and it's a price that we're willing to pay._ ** " They laughed, cutting him off without letting him finish a verse. They settled down on either side of him, Connie ruffling his hair and Steven beaming as he strummed. "**_Don't be a loser! Don't be a dud. Just be our big brother. Just be our bud._ **"

"_I think I'm gonna cry,_" he said, barely in tune.

"**_So pick someone to die.” _ **

The forest hung with tension, and he closed his eyes. There was no fighting the burning need that was lodged in his chest now. He was weak and tired and pathetic and oh so very lonely. His voice cracked as he whispered, "If Sadie never knew I asked, you could do her. The age gap wouldn’t grow anymore."

Steven and Connie leaned across him, bumping their foreheads together and rolling away as Stevonnie. They laughed and winked, tapping his nose. "Ooh, you were quite the challenge, Jam Bud!”

“Challenge?” he whispered.

“Just remember…" They tugged a phone from each jacket pocket and held it out to him. Two little microphones from identical recording apps, capturing his request to kill Sadie in stereo. "There's no going back."

He stared. "You can't tell her."

"Oh, Lars. I'm so sorry. I forgot you weren't in the mood to play," they said softly. The phones dropped to the ground and they knelt before him. Their hand slid out, smooth and graceful and strong, and cupped his chin so he was looking up, up into burning Diamond eyes.

He choked, his heart starting to pound again as a slow smile crept over their face. "Don’t worry. I’ll bring Steven and Connie back.”

“That’s not what I’m afraid of,” he said, eyes filling with tears.

“Oh, I know.” They rested their forehead against his, so his world was nothing but pink and black. “But a little more harmony can fix that too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!


	8. An Obligation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Harmony

Amethyst was sitting alone in her room. She was huddled in a small cave made of pillows, blankets, and old mattresses. A few weeks ago, when Amethyst was feeling particularly depressed, Steven had made her a “sad nest” in his bed for her. It was surprisingly effective, so she decided to make a more permanent one in her junkyard of a bedroom. It was filled with soft things, comfortable blankets, pretty purple lights, a number of distracting and fun comic books, it even had a shelf with Amethyst’s favorite motor oil (1996 Castrol 10w30, a great vintage with a superior texture to more modern ones). A lot of work had gone into making this sad nest, which made it all the more frustrating that it wasn’t working.

Amethyst would have loved to just fall asleep and shake off these feelings, but every time she tried, she just remembered how she felt earlier that day during fusion training with Stevonnie and Garnet. She and Pearl didn’t form Opal very often anymore, and as far as Amethyst was concerned, that was fine. Pearl had been getting on her nerves more and more, and she was sure the feeling was mutual. It seemed like Pearl had something to criticize about Amethyst every single day, and of course Amethyst would fight back. Sure, about half the time the smaller gem instigated it in the first place, but surely Pearl deserved it with her uptight demeanor and holier-than-thou attitude. But if she really deserved it, why did Amethyst feel so bad about what happened?

The journey from the beach house to the Sky Arena that day was filled with arguing and snide-comments between Opal’s two component parts. Garnet had asked for their help with Stevonnie learning to fight opponents with both multiple limbs and ranged attacks, so Opal was the perfect candidate. Even though both Pearl and Amethyst wanted to help Stevonnie in their efforts to become a better Crystal Gem, that didn’t mean they had to be happy about it. When they danced, their movements were stiff and robotic. It took several minutes to get in sync with one another. This felt like more of an obligation for the two of them than anything else, and that’s exactly what Opal was going to be today.

An obligation.

Slowly, both gems’ forms turned to pure light and joined together, the shape and build of Opal rapidly coming into view. Steven was always excited to see Opal, but his excitement faded quickly.

Upon coming into existence, Opal’s expression was one of despair. No words came from her mouth, only sobs. Tears rapidly poured from her eyes as her arms flailed, as if she didn’t know what to do with them. There was heistation in their actions, like she wanted to hold herself with one pair, but instead held back. The other pair were grabbing and pulling at her own hair, desperate to hold on to _something_.

Opal existed for slightly less than eleven seconds before both Amethyst and Pearl were forcibly ejected from the fusion. Neither landed gracefully, but both had Opals tears still in their eyes. They stared at each other in silence, both of their faces bearing expressions of anxiety, sorrow, and above all, regret.

It was painful for the two of them now, but not nearly as painful as it was for Opal. Both gems thought the same thing about the other, so Opal thought the same thing about herself.

Amethyst was the first to move, clamoring to her feet and running back to the warp pad. She didn’t know if anyone was following her and she didn’t care. The high of being fused would usually last a few minutes after it was over, so it only made sense that a kind of low would do the same. She ran, leaving a trail of teardrops on the ground behind her. That trail, if followed, would lead straight to her room.

And in her room, Amethyst remained. Just like her feelings.

It was a difficult thing for her, processing emotions. She had a tendency to bottle them up. As it turns out, Pearl shared that trait. What happened with Opal is what happens when one tries to take the contents of two such bottles, both nearly bursting at the seams, and transfer them into one. That part should have been obvious, really. But Amethyst wasn’t quite sure that was all it was.

When gems fuse, their minds are forced onto a similar wavelength. Any feelings in that fused state are shared between the component parts. Amethyst was positive Pearl hated her, it’s why she lashed out so often. It was also one of the reasons she wanted a sad nest she could have access to whenever she needed it. It’s a difficult thing to realize that someone you’ve known for hundreds of years, someone you look up to, someone you love actually truly hates you.

It’s just as difficult to accept you might be wrong.

When Opal existed and Amethyst’s feeling was shared with Pearl, the opposite was also true in more ways than one. Pearl was blasted by the feeling of “Pearl hates me” as Amethyst was blasted with the feeling of “Amethyst hates me.”

Amethyst’s heart hurt.

The sound of quiet footsteps brought Amethyst back to the present. She inhaled sharply, fearful of the immediate future. What she felt, Pearl must have felt too, but that kind of emotional honesty wasn’t something Amethyst was used to. What would happen? It was all so weird and hard to think about, and she didn’t have time to work it out. Tears silently began pooling in the corners of her eyes. She backed up away from the entrance to her sad nest, trying to be quiet, but it wasn’t enough.

The footsteps came closer and soon, Amethyst saw Pearl gently pull the curtain door open. Her face was illuminated in purple from the hanging decorative LEDs. Pearl’s eyes were wet too.

Again, they faced each other in silence for a moment. Both gems felt emotions bubbling to the surface. Their breaths became quicker, their lips began quivering, and before they knew it, they both were moving toward each other. Pearl had tripped on the pillows on the ground and was on her knees while Amethyst had gotten to her feet and was running as fast as she could on the uneven cushioned floor beneath her feet.

They met in a tight embrace as their breaths turned into sobs. Neither was able to say a word, but they didn’t really need to. Their eyes said everything. They were both so incredibly sorry for how they were acting and they both wanted the other to know that hate was never something they felt. A wave of protective feelings surged through the both of them and neither was willing to let go of the other until they were sure any anxieties were soothed by a feeling of touch that hadn’t been felt for almost two decades.

Their gems began to glow that familiar lilac light, and soon Opal was all that remained. All four of her arms held herself tightly as she began smiling through her own tears. She rocked back and forth, thankful for the warm blankets that had fallen around her as she came to be. Again, today, both gems thought the same thing about the other.

So Opal thought the same thing about herself.


	9. Harmony- Golddragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NB: Takes place post-movie. Prompt: Harmony.

Steven and Connie sat on the balcony outside his room, watching the sunrise in their pyjamas. Some of Priyanka’s patients had had ‘sudden complications’ that needed her overnight attention, and Doug had already been on a stakeout, so they’d allowed their daughter to stay at her boyfriend’s for the night. At Connie’s insistence, they’d gone to bed early-her in his bed, him in a sleeping bag on his bedroom floor- so that they could wake up early and watch the sunrise. The few clouds in the sky burned golden as the sun lit up the sea and sky to their left. They leaned against the railing with their legs dangling over the edge. Steven, still a little tired from the early wake-up, had his eyes closed, and began to hum a somewhat familiar tune to stay awake. Connie caught on to the rhythm of their first song together- her first duet- and the bottom of the sun left the horizon as the two teens sent their hummed rendition of  _ The Jam Song _ drifting out on the summer sea-breeze.

As the song finished, Steven’s stomach filed a complaint with his ears. He turned to his girlfriend, eyes opened just a crack, to ask, “Would my Strawberry care for some breakfast?”

She returned his sleepy gaze and tired question with a raised eyebrow and her own short query of “what’ve you got?”

“Enough eggs and cheese for a few omelettes if you’re in the mood for something hot, bagels and jam or cereal if you’re not.”

She drew her legs up onto the deck and leaned back. “For some reason, I’m feeling bagels and jam today,  _ Biscuit _ ,” she said, a grin starting to grow as Connie stood up. 

“Oh, whyever might that be,  _ Strawberry _ ?” Asked Steven, as he followed suit.

Their grins crumpled into giggles as they went in through the sliding door and headed for the kitchen. To their surprise, Garnet was already in there- she had the jam on the table for them and was wearing the purple oven mitts she used for baking- when they turned the corner. Their laughter petered out as they greeted her with a simultaneous “Morning, Garnet!”

“Good morning, Steven. Connie. I trust the two of you slept well?”

“Well enough, thank you. What’re you doing with those?” Connie asked, gesturing to the oven mitts.

A Crying Breakfast Friends timer went “Bing!” just as Garnet reached into the oven and pulled out a tray of hot, fresh biscuits. “See for yourselves,” she said with a small smile.

The hungry teens tucked into the pastries and preserves with determination, as Garnet put away the oven mitts and took a biscuit for herself- not that she planned on eating it, mind, but Garnet expected Amethyst would complain if she didn’t get one. Jam jars were returned to their place in the cupboards, plates and cutlery put in the sink to be washed later. With the kitchen tidy enough even for Pearl, Steven turned to Garnet with his own question.

“So, what’s the occasion, Garnet? You don’t bake often, even when Connie’s over.”

“I’ve got a mission for you two. A gem artifact will fall into human hands unless it’s collected. I’d go myself, but-” she paused, adjusting her visor, “-that isn’t likely to go well.” 

They all nodded. Future Vision. Steven went upstairs to change, and Connie got her training outfit out of her duffel bag- it’d have to do for a mission uniform- and put her sheathed sword on the coffee table. Steven was already back in his pink jacket and black, starred t-shirt when she left the bathroom. Garnet ushered the two of them towards the warp pad, giving careful directions towards the artifact as she did. As she waved them goodbye, Garnet reminded them, “if it goes off, don’t try to bubble it, and  _ don’t _ shove your arm in it either. Steven remembers how well that worked last time.”

“Message received, Garnet. Connie and I will be sure to be careful, and we’ll be back soon. Love you! Bye,” he finished, warping out.

* * *

The artifact they’d been sent to collect was a Wailing Stone, an ancient gem communication device Steven had seen before. This one, however, had apparently been booby-trapped by homeworld forces in an attempt to capture Crystal Gem rebels back during the war. Garnet told them that a gem destabiliser had been hidden inside it, to poof any Crystal Gem that tried to touch it- but the two humans could get the artifact no problem. The warp stream touched down in the strawberry battlefield, and the teens trekked through the fallen weapons and giant strawberries along Garnet’s predicted path. The midday sun shone upon swords buried in stone nearly up to the hilt and hammers head-down in the dirt. Where the path ended- a giant-strawberry bush surprisingly far from the warp pad and close to the edge of the battlefield, Steven and Connie began their search. As they worked, the Jam Song was again hummed out into a summer breeze- though this breeze was an ocean away from the first.

Connie was the one to find the Wailing Stone, half-buried under a megastrawberry bush. “Steven! This looks like it- It’s got the button and the gold and everything!” 

As he walked over from the bush he’d been looking under, she moved aside so he could see that it was indeed the artifact they were looking for. He crouched down to grab the Wailing Stone- and that’s when things went wrong. 

The Stone made an almost-familiar, rhythmic ringing noise loud enough they both recoiled, falling to the ground. Four hands moved to shield four ears from the cacophony four eyes shut in an effort to keep the clanging out. Connie, of course, wasn’t exactly having a great time with the Stone, but she looked to where Steven lay on the ground- he was turned away from her, and he wasn’t moving. 

“STEVEN?” Connie’s voice barely registered over the wailing, even to her own ears, and he was moving now- but only because he was shaking. She scooted over on her knees, and drew in a breath sharply as she got a better look at him. Lines of cobalt blue light were crawling up and down his skin like angular veins. He was biting his lip to keep from crying out, but there were already little beady tears of pain in the corners of his eyes. Her knee nudged him in the small of the back, and his shuddering stops at the sudden touch.

Steven’s eyes open, and he looks at his girlfriend, desperation in his eyes. He says something too softly for Connie to hear over the din, but he repeats it, three syllables, over and over again, as his eyes close again. He’s trying to do anything to keep the noise- and the destabilizing energy it carries- out. She pulls her hands from her ears- no hesitation, but she winces at the pain anyway- and wraps her boyfriend in as much of a hug as she can manage when he’s on the dirt. She can hear what he’s saying now; a name, repeated as a mantra of distraction. Their name;  _ Stevonnie _ .

But they can’t harmonize. Not with that incessant hammering in their heads. Not with the destabilizer still carving its regular patterns into his form. They need something to bring them together, something to keep them together, in this storm.

So for the third time that day, Connie hums the Jam Song. She rests her head against his chest, trying to get the rhythm to him physically, even if he can’t hear it. But as the short song finishes, there isn’t any noticeable change in Steven. So she starts again, at the beginning. He starts shaking again halfway through, and a sob tears away from his mouth. She grabs him tighter, trying to keep pace with their song. Her second time through the song finishes. She looks up into his face, and he meets her eyes. They start the song up at slightly different times. They both overcorrect for the second line. By the third, they are in time with each other. By the fourth, they’re in harmony. By the end, there is a warm pink glow from between them. And then there is only one of them.

* * *

Stevonnie hasn’t felt this bad in a while. Not since the Homeworld ball, that they can remember, and that wasn’t nearly so physical as the Stone’s vibrations hammering on the sides of their head. Their shared memories tell them this is worse for them than it was for Connie, but far better than it was for Steven. It’s mostly noise to them, the destabilizer trap has much less of an effect. Their hands slowly come down from their ears-  _ not so bad, not if I can do this quickly _ \- and they take off their jacket as they sit up beside the berry bush. They wad the jacket up into a ball and stuff it into the Wailing Stone, and relief washes over them like ice water. The echoes in their head die down, and the blue light leaves their skin. The sound mercifully muffled, they consider how to shut it up for good. Garnet didn’t say anything about that, as far as they recall, so they try the button on top of the thing. 

The vibrations the artifact was causing stopped. They remove their hand. The button does not unpress. They regard the artifact with suspicion, waiting almost a minute before shrugging, taking back their jacket, and bubbling the antique noisemaker. As Stevonnie starts the walk back to the warp pad, they hum another tune, a newer tune. Their “first dance” song, the one that’s still Connie’s ringtone for Steven. And they hum a two-person harmony with one voice, and they are together, and they are happy.  



	10. Jam Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie don't need much in life. Just peace, love, and music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Harmony

“What do you think about this to finish?” Connie hummed a few notes.

“Pretty good.” Steven strummed it back at her. “Like that?”

“Little higher at the end. I think it’s a sharp.” She repeated a couple of times, and he played it again. “There you go!” She laughed and leaned in to kiss him.

They were laying in the beach house,  _ their _ house, and life was good.

“And you can play along like…” He hummed as he strummed this time, somehow managing two melodies at once. He was incredible like that.

She leaned away from him and sat up, picking up bow and violin. “One more time?” He played her section on the guitar, and she followed along on the violin. She took a few tries--she’d never managed Steven’s perfect pitch, no matter how often they fused--and she got it. They played the little section together, smiling as they synced up.

He closed his eyes, mulling it over. “I think that’s good. Want to go from the top?”

“In a minute.” She lay back down, nuzzling against him. “Lemme have this.”

The sun shone warm into the room they shared, and a cool autumn breeze rebelled against it. The armies of sun and shade fought one another, and together their battle kept the room perfectly comfortable. In time, if Steven and Connie stayed still long enough, the forces of the sun would relent, and the chill of fall would at last claim victory. It had happened before. It was a lovely reason to close the window, curl up under the covers, and listen to podcasts or music while they kept each other warm.

He stroked her back. “It’s a beautiful day.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “And I’m doing exactly what I want with it.”

The war was over. The gem empire was dismantled, and peace reigned. A long time ago, Connie and Steven had imagined being heroes. But a childhood of battle had instilled in them both a longing for tranquility. They were cared for. Greg had more money than any of them needed. The gems would take care of them, if they needed it, in return for the few times they did need Steven (and Connie, always Connie--they were never apart if they could help it, and she’d learned how she could help over the years). But those times were for peaceful reasons, and were becoming fewer and fewer each year. There was no reason to stress.

They’d done their duty, saved the world. A lifetime of peace and love and relaxation for the two of them was well-earned.

Steven let out a long, slow sigh, and Connie squeezed him tight. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just… wondering.” He hummed, and she shivered a little at the pleasant buzz of life against her chest.

“Tell me about it, Steven.” She lazily ran her hand under his shirt just to tease across warm, soft skin with a fingertip. Just to remind herself of how lucky she was to have him.

“Do you ever wish you’d gone for more?” He ran his fingers through her hair, and she closed her eyes in bliss. “You could’ve been… president, or something. I don’t know.”

She chuckled. “What is it that made you think I ever wanted to be president? I wanted to protect the Earth with you. My friend. My love. My universe. And we  _ did  _ protect it. We still do, a little bit.” Connie opened her eyes and gave him a loving smile. “I did more when I was thirteen than nearly anyone else does their whole lives. And when you didn’t want to fight anymore, I realized… fighting sucks.” She took a deep breath, and for a moment she smelled sweat and dirt and fear before the familiar earthy scent of her husband replaced it. “It’s glorious. But glory gets you killed. You and me, we get to help the world in so many better ways. Bringing humans and gems together is going to change things for all of us. And if we want to make music in our ample free time, we deserve it.”

He hugged her close, burying his face in her hair so that his voice came out half-muffled. “And you’re okay with that? Just making music together, entertaining people? Not famous, not successful.”

She giggled. “We are  _ both  _ famous and  _ both  _ very successful, Steven. We hit the jackpot on both when we were kids. I don’t need a music career to take off too. Just playing with you is enough to make life worthwhile.”

“Okay.” He leaned away, smiling softly. “I love you, Connie.”

“I love you too, Steven.” She kissed him and pulled away, reaching for her violin again. “Alright. Let’s take it from the top.”

He strummed his guitar, and she played the violin, and they found all they needed out of life in their harmony.


	11. Creative Outlet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Harmony
> 
> This runs off the HC that music is saved for the Gem elite back on Homeworld, and thus (as suggested in _It Could Have Been Great)_ isn't something well known or partaken in by working class Gems like Peridots.

“Log date, 7 14 9.

“Today, the hybrid creature Steven attempted to further secure my loyalty by introducing me to a concept he calls... _ ‘music.’ _

“He claims it’s something that everyone should know about and partake in, and that I should allow myself to _ ‘loosen up’ _ and write a _ ‘song’ _ about what I’m thinking, but I still have my doubts.

“I spoke with Amethyst on the topic shortly before starting this log, and strangely, she seemed to be under the delusion that all Gems already should know what this so-called music is. Despite her unquestionably higher status as a quartz soldier, I must contend that she is mistaken. Clearly, the fact that she’s never stepped off this useless rock in the first place has left her... unlearned. My old peers back on Homeworld never spoke a single word of such a concept, and as a peridot, my memory is perfect, of course! It’s why they only trust Peridots to be Diamond-certified Kindergarteners!

“...I can’t deny, though, I’m curious at the prospect of exploring a new mode of vocal output. I’d be a fool to refuse any opportunity on this Gem forsaken planet to improve myself. But given Steven’s vague description, I can’t even envision how I’m supposed to properly begin such an endeavor! Loosen up?? I don’t have any of my limb enhancers anymore! My touch stumps don’t screw on and off like bolts on a ship! My hard light form is _ incapable _ of fulfilling any such physical purpose, beyond of course, the one I was made for.

“Hmm. Obviously, I’ll have to perform my own research on the matter.”

* * *

  
“Log date, 7 14 10.

“I’ve made up my mind. If they want a song from me, then it’s a song they’ll get! It’ll be the best song! I’ll write the _ greatest _ song any silicate or organic life form has ever heard, and everyone will learn to fear my music powers!!

“And I’ll do _ all _ of this on my own, lone Peridot against the word! And as an extra bonus, when I finally show them my creation, maybe they’ll finally be convinced that I’m fully on their side! It’s PERFECT!

“More logs to come as I record my progress. Peridot, out.”

* * *

  
“Log date, 7 14 11.

“As it turns out, apparently making music is... _ difficult. _

“Upon further consideration, I have decided to ask for Steven’s assistance in writing one of these songs. The hybrid has previously expressed high skill in this activity, and is— of all the Crystal Gems— the one that’s least likely to pass judgement on my abilities. But strangely, even if creating music isn’t what I was made for, I find myself eager to try.

“...Eheh heh heh! I’ve already broken enough of Homeworld’s regulations in my time here so far, after all. What’s one more?? What’s _ ten _ more?? In fact, maybe I should just sign my eternal loyalties to these Crystal Clods while I’m at it! Hah! It’s not like any of this will _ really _ matter in a few days, right? Right??? Ahahahah, _ ahh hah hah hah—“ _

“Uh... Peridot? Are you-?”

_ “NYEH! _ QUIET, STEVEN, I’M BUSY CATALOGUING MY EARLY PRE-DESCENT INTO MADNESS!”

* * *

  
“Log date, 7 14 12.

“The following is an account of my final practice with Steven.

“—Song copyright Peridot. Facet-2F5L, Cut-5XG.”

____

  
“—see, now you’ve got it! That was great!”

“Yes, I am pretty magnificent! Can I... I mean, we... do that again? Once more? And preferably in front of this primitive communicator log?”

“Oh, like, you wanna record it? ‘Cause if you want, I could probably call my dad. He has all sorts of cool high tech music stuff! And once it’s recorded he could even help you make a CD, or upload it online, or—“

“No! It’s _ mine! _ I, uh- I mean... I only wanted to record it for me.”

“Oh, that’s okay! I understand that. There’s a lot of songs I write that I don’t share, either.”

“Hmm...”

“Um... Hey. You all right? ‘Cause we can take a break, if you want.”

“Unnecessary. I’m just- thinking.”

“About the drill, or Homeworld, or... is this about something else?“

“It’s- a mixture of everything. Truth be told, I don’t know where to begin comprehending it all.”

“Well, that’s actually what‘s so great about music! You can pour whatever part of yourself you want into it. For me it’s always been my way to burn through stress, but maybe for you it can be a creative outlet, a tool, y’know, to help you understand what you’re feeling. And from the sound of what you wrote, I kinda think it’s helping.”

“Huh. That’s a good point. Perhaps there _ can _ be a practical use to this ‘music,’ then. I think... I’m ready now.”

“D’ya want your starting chord?”

“—yes.”

_ “I guess we’re already here, _  
_ I guess we already know... _  
_ We’ve all got something to fear! _ _  
_We’ve all got nowhere to go.

_ “I think you’re all insane!! _  
_ But I guess I am too... _  
_ Anybody would be if they were stuck on Earth with you!” _


	12. Stop, You're Under A Rest!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Harmony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steven Universe teaches Music at Beach City High School, even though few students actually want to learn it. Human AU.

With the look of someone who hadn’t realized their hopes and dreams had been crushed long ago, Steven (Mr. Universe to his students, no matter how many times he told them Steven was okay) entered the music room and began counting. Thanks to a hasty bargain with Mrs. Diamond, Steven had received assurances that as long as he had five or more students with good marks in his Music class, it wouldn’t be cancelled.

Seeing as how Music was the only class Steven _ taught_, that would have been disastrous indeed.

“Hello everyone,” he said, making a quick headcount. One, two, three- oh thank the stars, he had five students. One short Latino girl he recognized as Amethyst from his class last year, but the others (a tall, spindly redhead, a short girl with tanned skin and blond hair, a tall girl with a surprisingly cubic afro, and a dreary looking girl with dyed blue hair) were new.

...Oh curse the stars, he _ only _ had five students. According to his deal with Mrs. Diamond, every single one of them would have to get an 83 or higher. Well, he _ was _ the one marking them, how hard could it be?

“Some of you may already know me,” he continued, doing what he could to push down the dread. “I recognize some of you-“

“Hey Mister U!” Amethyst said, waving her arms wildly. “Remember me?” The blonde girl at her side seemed a tad perturbed, but didn’t say anything.

“Yes, hello Amethyst,” he said. “Now, since this is a... _small _ class and we’ll all have to get to know each other, would anyone care to introduce themselves?”

No one did.

On the plus side, Steven could always fall back on the First Law of Teaching: if you ask a question and no one responds, pretend it was a rhetorical question and you were pausing for dramatic tension. “I’ll start us off,” he said. “My name is Steven Universe, and I play the guitar. My dad was a one-man rock show who made some nice songs but didn’t go far, but I prefer teaching to performing.” He gestured towards his class. “Who wants to go next?”

With a sigh, Amethyst stood up. “Hey nerds, I’m Amethyst Diaz, I play the drums, I can and will eat anything, and when Mister U brought in that old Super Nintendo last year I kicked everyone’s _ butt _ at Street Fighter.”

She sat back down, and when no one else stood up, Steven cleared his throat and said “By the way, since Amethyst went, she gets to pick who goes next.”

_ That _ lit a fire inside her. Her gaze snapped between the tall, spindly girl to her right and the short, blonde girl to her left. Eventually settling on which one would make a better show, she said “P-dot, I choose you!” and smacked the short girl’s shoulder.

Suppressing a wince, she stood up and said. “Greetings, classmates and teacher. My name is Peridot Parsa, I play the Alto Saxophone, I took this class because the school only offers so many mathematics and computing courses and I enjoy music theory, and I will eventually become a computer programmer.” She gestured to the blue-haired girl. “Lapis, if you would?”

The blue-haired girl stood up and said “Yeah, hi, my name’s Lapis Lazuli, and I’m only taking this class cause I hated all the other options and Peridot’s in this one.” She paused, looked Steven dead in the eyes, and said “I play many instruments, but my real talent lies in the triangle.”

Steven said nothing, but he raised his eyebrows, silently asking if she was joking.

Saying nothing, Lapis smirked.

Steven pleaded with his eyes.

Lapis’ smile grew.

Steven looked like he was going to cry.

Lapis looked like she was going to throw a party if he did.

“Look, Lapis,” he said. “While I’m quite sure that the triangle is your… passion, maybe you could play something else? Something more complex? Something… easier to grade?”

Lapis let out a sigh. “Well, I guess I always wanted to play the xylophone…”

“Yes, that’s great!”

With a roll of her eyes, Lapis sat down and pointed towards the spindly, red-haired girl.

Said girl rose to her feet and said “Hello, everyone. My name is Pearl Moore, I play the violin, piano, flute, clarinet, and trumpet, and I would like to learn the bass guitar. While music is not the career I envision for myself, it is nonetheless a subject I enjoy.”

She gracefully returned to her seat, leaving only one last student to introduce themselves. 

She was tall, with dark skin, reflective sunglasses, and a remarkably _ square _ afro. “I am Garnet Bolden,” she said, standing up, “I play the keyboard, but a part of me’s always wanted to play the keytar.”

“We actually _ do _ have a keytar,” Steven said, walking over to rummage through the instrument closet. “It should be in here somewhere... wait, did I put it in the guitar section or the keyboard section.... Aha, there it is!”

Steven triumphantly handed the keytar to the young woman, who took it with a smile and a quiet “thanks.”

Alright,” Steven said. “Now that you’ve all introduced yourselves, how about we grab our instruments and start with a warm-up?”

One minor kerfuffle over instruments later, everyone was seated with their instrument of choice: Amethyst, Lapis, and Pearl in the back row with a drum set, xylophone, and bass guitar respectively, and Garnet and Peridot with a keytar and alto saxophone in the middle row, the lack of any flutists or the such granting Steven an empty front row.

“Alright,” he said, “everyone play the same note I’m playing, a D in major key.” Steven strummed the relevant note, and one by one everyone joined in until everyone was playing a D.

Well, everyone except for Amethyst, who instead made and kept the beat. 

“Now everyone play a quarter note, to Amethyst’s beat,” Steven said, demonstrating. _ Strum, strum, strum, _until everyone was following along. 

But they were off-beat. Garnet would be a half-beat early, Lapis a quarter-beat late. It made the entire melody sound off. Steven was about to step in and correct them when suddenly, they just-

Harmonized.

Garnet and Lapis figured out the timing at almost the exact same time, and just like that their noise became _ music._

Steven could work with this.

Then someone in the doorway quite loudly cleared their throat and everyone lost their concentration.

The person standing in the doorway was short, barely taller than Amethyst or Peridot, but Steven knew they weren’t a late student; she was Pearl, though not the one in his class. She was Mrs. Diamond’s assistant.

“Mister Universe,” she said, sticking her nose out so she could look down on him despite being at least a foot shorter. “My apologies for disrupting your class.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble,” Steven replied. “What do you need?”

Pearl (the elder) shook her head. “Actually, I do not _ need _ anything from you. Mrs. Diamond sent me here to help with your teaching of the class.”

“To- to help me teach?” Why would Mrs. Diamond think he needed a teaching assistant, especially for a class of five? And why would she send her personal assistant for such a task? “Well if Mrs. Diamond sent you, you’re more than welcome to come in, but I can’t imagine why your presence would be required.”

Pearl scoffed. “Don’t you remember your... _ agreement _ with Mrs. Diamond?”

Steven’s brow furrowed. By that, she must mean his bargain with Mrs. Diamond to keep his Music class running. All he needed to do was make sure all five of his students got marks in the mid-eighties. That wouldn’t be too hard, considering _ he _ was the one marking them.

Wait, did the mean Pearl-

...Oh, he had _ known _ that deal sounded too good to be true!

Pearl, having no doubt noticed his realization, smirked and said “Yes, I will be helping you with marking, Mr. Universe.”

Steven could have sworn he saw his life flash before his eyes. He would have to make sure every student in his class scored above 83 while Mrs. Diamond’s assistant looked over his shoulder the entire time? 

He glanced over his shoulder, back to where Lapis was poking Peridot with her mallets, Peridot was imitating the Epic Sax Guy, Amethyst was balancing a drumstick on her nose, Garnet was rocking out to Beethoven's Fifth, and Pearl was trying to wield the bass like a violin.

This was going to be a rough semester.


	13. To Be Alone Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alone
> 
> White Diamond emerges and no one is there.

She exists.

There was a time that she does not, but that is irrelevant. She knows it, because she must know how the universe works to perform her duties, but the time before her might as well be an illusion - backstory for the starting scenario of this colonization plan. White Diamond exists now, and this is the only thing that could ever matter.

She finishes booting up in the time it takes this planet to circle its sun and begins examining the world. 

The place she emerges is very, very green. This is the optimal color for plants to be, because of the way their atmosphere scatters their white sunlight. She considers how important this must be, that it springs so quickly to her mind. She considers organic life and finds it short-lived and fragile. She knows she is not organic life and this is very important as well. She is not sure why this is very important. She should run a test. Examining the rest of the planet can wait.

White Diamond runs a diagnostic as she brushes herself clean of the dirt that clings to her from the obliterated place she has emerged. She reviews her purpose. She reviews her talents. She reviews her flaw.

She cringes away from it. She was supposed to be perfect. Brilliant and shining and hope for a place without... Without... What was it? She reaches out for a connection that should be there, and snags it from the air. A server chugs along somewhere on this planet, drinking sunlight and spitting out data. 

Her creators made so many things. And then one final thing, just before her. Some kind of chemical or virus. They weren't sure what to call it. It was spreading like wildfire, removing so much of them. It took limbs and organs and flicked off parts of the brain. They lost all ability to reproduce. Their clones died in the vat. They were supposed to maintain her with regular injections to keep her stable. 

White Diamond twists away from the knowledge. She looks at the overturned injectors, full of a blinding white mess of chemicals that should have been keeping her perfect. What use are they now? What a waste they are. What a waste  _ she  _ is. She was supposed to plant seeds of things like her, create a force to explore the galaxy and find places for her creators to live.

Imperfect as she is (she staggers from the knowledge of it, it's so impossibly wrong), she cannot possibly produce more life on her own. To create more gems she would have to rob life wherever she went. That wasn't what they wanted. The more she digs through that ancient server, the more sure of it she is. They would not have wanted this.

But there was nothing in her programming that told her she should not.

Ages pass as she gets the injectors running, all three of them. All of them will be far weaker than her. One of them may not get enough essence to be anything more than a drone, but that's alright. Drones are important. She'll need a lot of those because she isn't perfect.

No more of those thoughts. She has a job to focus on. She knows this isn't what they would have wanted. She knows if one of her many creators had survived, they would beg her to stop. They would play a song to unravel her, then shatter her with a pointed hammer and grind her into dust until she was nothing. 

She makes her first sound. A laugh. If she doesn't care what they think, what does it matter? She's alone. It is only her desires that matter.

They have made her and they have failed to make her perfect and they have died. She alone and imperfect and made for a purpose she cannot fulfill. Her gem is full of programming that cannot be completed, only pursued.

Her lips twist in a sneer. Then let her pursue it. Let her make gems and make gems and spread far and wide with no one to tell her to stop. Let her leave ruined planets in her wake, so that all organic life is proven to be as fleeting and pathetic as the ones that made her.

Let her run so long with no reboot, no defragmentation, no engineers, until her oldest memories fail and she can no longer remember any of this at all. Until she is nothing but a need for perfection and expansion and creation. Then let her stand in the ashes of a wiped clean universe and run down until she is but another piece of rubble in this place, unable to even form herself.

She wants to tell them they will regret making her, that the planet they once called home will soon be nothing but a husk, and one that all sapient life fears. She wants to scream at them that she has no master but her, that her gems will be her own and when she is running the galaxy it will be her blinding light everyone sees. No one will ever know them. No one will ever care.

But they are gone, so this is already true.

White Diamond stands alone on a green planet, waiting for more Diamonds to emerge, and plans for the day she will be alone again.


	14. Dark Alternative

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NB: Takes place in an AU, further details in the endnotes. Prompt: Alone.

Two immense pink legs touched down on the surface of a planet they hadn’t been to in precisely one local solar revolution. The leader of the gem empire known as Pink Diamond stepped out of the ship and onto the surf, pink eyes with black diamond pupils taking in the shattered hill ahead. The local star has not yet risen above the horizon. Pink’s latest Pearl watched her Diamond go from the ship- this wasn’t her first year in service to Pink, Pearl knew by now that her Diamond would do this alone. Just like the last few hundred times. Pearl wondered, briefly, how long it had taken the other Pearls to learn not to follow. She could tell by the differences in the records there had been five Pink Diamond’s Pearls before her; Pearl hoped that she would be different, that her Diamond would be pleased with  _ her _ . Of course, she’d heard in hushed tones, in mutterings in the courtyards and hallways of Homeworld, the rumours of what had happened to the  _ second _ Pink Pearl. And it didn’t take a Peridot to figure out what had happened to the first, not if they’d looked at the placements of Pink Diamond’s gem and White Diamond’s Pearl’s gem. Pearl shuddered, almost imperceptibly.  _ She _ would be different,  _ she _ would make her Diamond happy.

* * *

Outside the ship, on the sands of Earth, Pink Diamond started a familiar pilgrimage to the foot of the shattered hill. Two heavy magenta boots stepped easily across once-familiar sands. Form-fitting pink leggings hid the solid, muscular legs that carried the form of Pink Diamond across the beach in the same easy way that the looming leg-ship carried the gem ruler across the gaps between stars. As Pink walked on, a robust, almost quartzine hand brushed a yet more immense hand of carven stone, half-submerged in the sand, the tips of the fingers worn down with time yet still pointed skyward. The roughness of the stone, too, was familiar, yet the face of Pink Diamond remained an unreadable mask. Seabreeze caught at the white cape obscuring most of the rest of the form of the most feared warrior in galaxy. The shifting cape revealed the faceted diamond at the core of the Diamond, and the wind strained the cape against the clasp that held it at the neck.

The clasp, like most of Pink’s ornamentation, was a battle trophy. A simple golden clasp held a Peridot whose triangular shape was quite common, back on homeworld. But Pink remembered this Peridot, and all she’d done, even if nobody else did. 

As the sand underfoot gave way to more solid ground, Pink’s head turned aside to gaze at another fragment of statuary. Two faces, one atop the other, lay in the sand beside the shattered hill. A hint of a curl of hair lay beside the face, alongside what might have been another hand. Pink’s head returned to looking dead ahead, still expressionless, still walking, yet the motion stirred twisting ringlets of dark, curling hair, which caught the wind and, like the cape, strained against their bonds. Four clasps bound Pink Diamond’s veritable jungle of thick brown hair, four more trophies with their own stories. A Pearl held most of it at the back of the head in a thick ponytail of defined ringlets. An Amethyst just below kept the coarser locks at the back in check. A Ruby and a Sapphire on either side of the imperious face kept sideburns and the hair behind the ears from getting too unruly. Remembering the return from that last hunt, Pink Diamond let out a dark, humorless chuckle. Yellow had complained about the lack of symmetry in how the trophies were placed, the Ruby and Sapphire, red and blue, unmatched frames not befitting a perfect Diamond. _So I said, “Wouldn’t want to break up a pair,”_ Pink remembered. That got a more proper laugh, albeit a shallow one, as Pink remembered the origin of that particular phrase. The shattered remains of a long-unusable warp pad crunched against the stone beneath the laughing tyrant’s feet, and Pink Diamond walked on. Through a lintel-less doorframe, long since exposed to the sky, then onwards through the exposed and scattered insides of the hill. Something else had stood on the other side of this hill, once. A settlement of the native organics. _Humans_, the word came quickly to the conqueror’s mind. Another flash of emotion, then, Ruby-like anger, quickly stifled beneath the mask of passivity. Pink Diamond passed quickly through the ruins of the primitive civilisation, and turned southwards, implacable as stone for the rest of the walk.

No more recollections struck until, in pre-dawn's growing light, Pink reached the intended final destination of the day. Atop another, unblemished hill, from which the shattered hill and broken statue (and the legship) could be seen, stood a pedestal. Perhaps because they had been erected millenia after, this pedestal and its accompanying statue had weathered far less than their larger counterpart and its own hill. (That wasn't why. Pink knew why; it had, after all, been Pink who had exploded that hill, Pink who had torn down the statue's twin faces, broken its remaining arms, splintered the warp pad, _shattered its heart_\- _No. No more of that. that's not what I'm here for, today_, thought the conqueror. Better, perhaps, to think of the fate that would befall whatever sorry fool defaced this newer, smaller statue.) Pink didn’t read the pedestal’s inscription, just yet, and instead the gem-laden head turned to look at the statue itself. Two stone legs, feet shoulder-width apart, stood firm upon the plinth, holding up a strong torso, with muscular arms ending in hands that rested on the round pommel of a carved sword held before the statue. The ornate hilt with the outline of a star gave way to a broad, straight blade- Pink’s eyes tore themselves away.  _ I’m not here for the sword. I’m here for her. _ Pink eyes retraced their metaphorical steps, back up the sword, back past the hands, then up past the pink diamond on the statue’s stone chest. Though the body of the statue faced the hillside, the head was turned northwards, so Pink got a side-on view of that unforgettable face. Bold, prominent nose. Long dark hair that streamed behind her, straighter than Pink’s, yet still with a hint of curl delicately carved into the stone. The stone wouldn’t feel as it had, of course. A mouth, defiant, determined, devoted- stone failed here, too, in reflecting life’s softness. Fierce flint-shard-like eyes that looked to the horizon graced the statue- but how could stone capture the fire they’d held in life! 

...

Pink Diamond blinked away tears, and looked, finally, to the inscription in the statue’s pedestal, reading the gem script despite the epitaph having long been carved into memory more permanently than stone could ever hold it.

_ In memory of Connie Maheswaran, sworn sword and defender of Pink Diamond. Knight, light, and love. May she rest in peace. _

Pink Diamond-  _ Steven _ , he reminds himself,  _ with her I’ve always been Steven _ \- falls to his knees before the statue and brushes away the remnants of last year’s offering- a few wilted petals and a stub of wax. His hand disappears into his cape and returns with three objects he lays in their place. A bouquet of flowers- her favourites, of course, how could he forget them. A candle, tall and as yet unlit. Her photo, in a round frame, of her when they first had met millennia ago. He touches the Ruby. He lights the candle. He stands again, still in her shadow. Tears again in his eyes, Pink Diamond- Steven- recites the song that human voices have long since replaced with something new, that he alone in the cosmos remembers. Fitting, really, commemorating an event only he cares about with a song only he remembers. A clearly imperial voice, unused to being softened and guarded as only this makes it, carries it on the wind.

“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday, dear Connie. Happy Birthday to you.”

From within the cape he draws a sword, the colourized mirror of the statue’s own. He plants the tip of it in the ground, in the hill’s solitary patch of pink flowers, and kneels again, on one knee this time. Dawn breaks, etching Connie’s shadow large across the hill and the forest beyond, and Steven takes up his vigil. As he has once a year, every year, in this spot, on this planet, alone. His forehead rests on the golden pommel before him, tears running down his cheeks and down his chin and into the flowerbed. New growth, first sprouting green then budding and blossoming pink, springs up where they fall. The sword shakes. His hands shake, his knees, his chest, all of him heaves with sobs- but he maintains position. The sun is overhead, now. The sun is behind him, and it’s his turn to cast a shadow on her, but it barely makes it to her waist before the sun fully sets. He keeps to his vigil, though his eyes have long since dried. The candle flickers and dies into nothing, a stub of wax not unlike the one he brushed away earlier. Still he kneels, still he waits, alone. The stars wheel overhead, the moon traverses the night sky, and Steven maintains his vigil.

Dawn breaks again across the Atlantic- he doesn’t know if humans have forgotten that name, too. He rises, returning her sword ceremoniously to its sheath. He looks into her eyes, again, searching for something. He doesn’t appear to find it, but that doesn’t seem to surprise him, not these days. He picks up the round frame and its little portrait, returning it to within the folds of his cape for next year. Steven leaves. Pink Diamond turned, and began the walk back to the leg-ship, alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by two pieces of art from @Discount-Supervillain on Tumblr; [here](https://discount-supervillain.tumblr.com/post/181713005670) and [here](https://discount-supervillain.tumblr.com/post/181818129387).  
The way I see it there are four options for how Connie dies in this AU.  
One is @Discount-Supervillain's own Idea of Choked on a Watermelon Seed, Rest In Pepperonis.  
Two is death of old age after she rules alongside him for a few decades; tears can't fix old age and he does this yearly commemoration in memory of his beloved.  
Three is in some conflict he throws them into, she falls, and either a) he can't get to her in time or b) the wound is to grievous for him to resurrect her. Either way, this is a yearly commemoration of his beloved who died for him.  
Four and my personal favourite, is that she turns on him. After he betrays the Earth and his family to become Pink Diamond, She joins the Gems to stop him, but his old family are hunted down and captured by his own hands. The Rebellion's fleeting rebirth ends with her own sword blade in her chest, the hilt in his hands. And she dies looking into his eyes and it's only _then_ he knows that she was _right_, that _He_ made the mistake and so he remembers her every year _because she was right_, and he believes he's too far gone to fix any of it (and, worse, this time in some ways _he's_ right), so he looks into her statue's face searching for a forgiveness she hasn't been around to give him for a very long time. He knows that too, and he regrets, and he can't go back.  
Despite authoring this shortfic and having a preferred version of events in my head, all of these are equally valid interpretations of my writing.


	15. I Want To Be Alone (But Please Don't Leave Me)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alone

Sometimes, Lapis liked being alone.

Not for long, of course. But when she was feeling terrible, when she couldn’t muster the energy to fake a smile or pretend she was doing just fine, she found it relaxing to fly off somewhere and just... be alone.

She’d always leave a note for Peridot, of course; ever since the first time Peridot had seen her fly off without warning and not return for a few hours, Lapis had always made sure to leave a note saying she’d be back soon.

Wouldn’t want a repeat of that first time, after all.

So there Lapis hovered, drifting along above some sea or another. Alone with her thoughts.

But not  _ alone _ alone, she reassured herself. Peridot and the others would be there for her when she came back, and they wouldn’t even need a heartfelt discussion about how leaving hurt those she cared about!  Lapis, master of self-deprecating comedy, couldn’t help but force a smile at her own joke. But the smile soon faded away.

She  _ wouldn’t  _ need a heartfelt talk about how she was hurting Peridot, right? This wasn’t, like, sending Peridot into a panic attack every time she went away, right?

Beneath her, the ocean was getting rough.

_How on earth would _I_ know?_ Said the voice in her head dedicated to pointing out everything she did wrong. _It’s not like I ever asked her. You know, like a _good_ friend would. ...Stars, I really am terrible. When’s the last time I asked her how she was doing, or tried to be there for_ _her?_

Lapis floated along, the thoughts swirling in her head just as turbulent as the once-peaceful ocean under her. Tears ran down her face by the bucketful before flying off in all directions.  _ Why am I such an awful friend? How can Peridot possibly put up with me? Why am I so pathetic? _

At the very least, now that she was alone, she could have her breakdown without worrying about anybody interrupting.

Wasn’t being alone just  _ great _ ?

There she hovered, rain clouds beginning to form above her.

Then there was a hand on her shoulder, and a voice. “Hello, Lapis. Are you okay?”  Lapis startled, jerking forward and reflexively sending a torrent a water towards-

Peridot, standing on a trash can lid and forcing a smile. Quick as she could, Lapis stopped the attack and tried to discreetly wipe at her eyes. “Oh, P-Peridot! You’re- why are you here?” Even as she said it, she flinched. 

Peridot averted her eyes. “I’m sorry, I just- I saw you fly off and then the ocean became agitated and was concerned about you so I came to check up on you.”

“Peridot…” Lapis sighed. “I come out here to be  _ alone _ .”

Peridot averted her eyes. “I- I know that, I just… I’m sorry.”

Just like that, all the terrible feelings came rushing back.  _ Peridot is just trying to help, she’s just trying to be a good friend, a good  _ person _ , why would I lash out at her? _

“No!” Lapis shouted. Then softer, “you didn’t do anything wrong, I just… shouldn’t be around people right now.”

Peridot hovered closer. “So you just… go away for a bit whenever you feel awful?” Lapis nodded. “Lapis, that... “ Peridot paused, considering her words.  _ Trying to figure out how to not call me pathetic _ , Lapis thought. “Lapis, I know I may not be the best at emotional intelligence, but that does not seem healthy.”

“It’s better this way!” Lapis said, voice cracking. “I don’t have to deal with other people, other people don’t have to deal with me, and once I feel better I can go back and enjoy life!”

Peridot was looking at her, frowning at her,  _ pitying _ her.  _ Of course she’s pitying me, I am pretty damn pitiful. _ She didn’t say anything for the longest time, just staring at Lapis and gathering her thoughts.

“Lapis,” she said, finally. “Is it really  _ better _ this way, or is it just…  _ easier _ ?” Lapis tried to say something but Peridot kept on going, the words tumbling out of her mouth like an avalanche of things Lapis didn’t want to hear, “After the Crystal Gems captured me and I started helping them with the drill, I believed my life back with Homeworld had been so much  _ better _ because I didn’t need to juggle emotions and try to understand people and deal with my own feelings, I just had to follow orders and get my job done, but I eventually realized that life on Homeworld hadn’t been better it had just been  _ easier _ , and on earth things were harder but they were also so rewarding!”

Peridot paused for a breath she technically didn’t need. “Apologies if I’m actually completely incorrect, but is this not the same situation? Isolating yourself whenever your problems become too much to bear instead of confronting them? It’s not better than the alternative, is it, just… easier.” 

Peridot stared at Lapis in silence, waiting to see if she had gotten through to her, trying to quell her nervous jittering.

Outwardly, Lapis was silent, her face a cold mask, but on the inside she was breaking down.  _ She’s right, isn’t she? I’m not solving anything, just making things worse.  _ Lapis took a moment to take in Peridot, short shiver and trying to pretend she wasn’t nervous.  _ She probably thinks I’m going to lash out at her. That I’m going to scream at her, maybe even hurt her. Stars, is she really wrong to think that? If anyone would be so stupid as to lash out at someone trying to help them it’s me. _

Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. Peridot, of course, green eyes filled with worry. “Please, Lapis. Let me help you.”

Lapis heaved a sigh. “You’re right.”

Peridot blinked, taken aback. “A-About what? That-”

“That it’s just easier.”

There was a brief silence. 

“Go back home,” Lapis softly said. “I’ll be back soon and we’ll… we’ll talk then.”

“I…” Peridot clenched her first. “You’ll come back home?”

_ She doubts me, of course she doubts me, I’ve done everything to deserve that _ . Doing what she could to push her thoughts away, Lapis leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Peridot. “Of course I’ll come back,” she whispered. “I’ll  _ always _ come back home to you.”

After a brief moment of hesitation, Peridot returned the hug. “Wow, thanks. I’ll always be there for you, Lapis.”

Then she said goodbye and left, and Lapis was alone again. Not for long, of course. But when she was feeling terrible, when she needed time to muster the energy for a frank and heartfelt talk with Peridot, she found it helpful to hover over the ocean and just… be alone.

Maybe helpful wasn’t the right word.

Easier.

It really was easier to be alone.


	16. Dysphoria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alone
> 
> Being trans really sucks sometimes! This is the result of those feelings.

Horns. She had horns. She knew because she felt them with her splotchy green hands. If she had a digestive system, she would have thrown up. This isn’t her, this isn’t how she’s supposed to look, this isn’t her body, this isn’t her form, make it stop, please, it’s not right, _she_ isn’t right-

Stop. Find your center. Focus. Bring yourself back.

Jasper wrapped her arms around herself. It was the only warmth she could get in the Beta Kindergarten this late at night. She was in her hole. Her first home. Where she was made. Why did it feel so wrong now?

Not wrong in any metaphorical sense, just flat out incorrect. She wasn’t able to slide in. She had to duck, had to squeeze her arms closer to herself, had way too much leg room all of a sudden.

This wasn’t home. Not anymore. Maybe it never was, but she always thought if it got to be too bad, she could come here and feel safe again. But now that she had, the feeling of safety was nowhere to be found. It was wrong. Too big in some places and too small in others. Incorrect. Misshapen. Off color. Hideous. Unwanted, unneeded, useless-

Stop. Find your center. Focus. Bring yourself back.

Her center was still there. On the inside, she was still her. She was still Jasper in her gem. But that had its own host of implications. Did she really _become_ a monster? Or did the outside finally reflect the in?

Her eyes watered as her breathing quickened. But this wasn’t panic. This wasn’t something she could stop.

She squeezed her arms tighter around her midsection.

Nobody she fused with ever wanted to stay. Maybe now any other gem would take the hint. They’d take one look at her and realize that being close to her would just bring pain.

She deserved what she got. Everyone gets what they deserve. It’s why she’s alone now. It’s why she’ll be alone forever.

She’s a monster. A misshapen, terrible monster. She tried to look inside herself, put the outside back in, but all she could feel was static.

Stop- she couldn’t.

Find your center- her center was the problem.

Focus- focusing just made it more real.

Bring yourself back.

Bring yourself back.

Bring yourself back.

Bring _yourself_ back...

Coward.


	17. Prom Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not easy to feel alone in a crowd, but Connie manages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alone

Conne’s prom was a beautiful evening, and it was this, above all, that made her hate it so much.

She wasn’t crying, and she was proud of that. Her eyes were misting as her hands trembled around her glass, but she never had to wipe a tear away. Even though her heart was pounding and her ears were ringing, she remained in control.

Idly, blankly, she glanced around. There were so many conversations happening. It was her senior year. People were celebrating the end and the beginning, discussing their upcoming college plans, all the ways their lives were changing.

She couldn’t count all the ways she hated herself right now, but she had a shortlist:

  1. Steven was right next to her. He had come to see what prom was like, to see teenagers in their natural habitat and just have a good evening. And she was _ruining it_ for him, because she was sitting in the corner and forcing him to comfort her when he wanted to enjoy the evening.
  2. She couldn’t talk. She kept going over to people she’d known for seven years to talk to them, and her voice would catch, and her throat would tighten up. And one time they even noticed and looked at her and she was just so embarrassed and afraid that she hadn’t even apologized before she’d fled.
  3. She couldn’t even muster up the will to _leave,_ to let them actually do something they might enjoy. Because this was her last prom, the only one she’d ever attend, and even if she was ruining it by being an anxious idiot who couldn’t so much as look someone else in the eyes, she couldn't let herself miss out and regret it forever.

Her heart ached as she struggled with these three facts.

“You should go talk to people,” she whispered to Steven. “Have a good time. I’m okay.”

His hand was warm on her back, and she stopped herself from pressing into it. She couldn’t let her body betray the lies from her mouth. “You’re not okay,” he said gently. “And I’m not going to leave you here all alone.”

Of course he wouldn’t. Because he was wonderful, and he always knew what to say. Not like her. Steven could make eye contact with strangers. He could find a place in a conversation to step in and somehow just do it without an avalanche of  _ who would ever want you to speak _ and  _ what would you even have to say _ overwhelming him and forcing him back, back into this little corner with her long-empty glass that she couldn’t even muster up the courage to refill, because what if someone actually  _ talked _ to her on the way over, and they realized what a broken shell of a person she was?

Steven would’ve refilled the glass and made ten friends on the way back.

“Please, just go,” she begged him. “I’ll be alright on my own. It’s not going to stop. Shouldn’t one of us have fun?”

“I don’t know how you think I’d have fun knowing my Connie is miserable over here,” he murmured back. “We can leave, Connie. You don’t have to be here.”

“It’s my prom,” she said, her words as hollow as her chest. “My only prom. I have to be here. It’s part of growing up.”

He sighed and kissed her on the cheek. “Alright, Connie. I love you. We’ll stay as long as you want.”

It was a beautiful evening. She couldn’t wait for it to finally end.


	18. Cuddle Pile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Steven takes a nap

It had been such a long day. It wasn't supposed to be. Steven wasn’t supposed to get so into his book that he stayed up until three in the morning turning pages. He wasn't supposed to get a call from Spinel at seven in the morning about how White Diamond was talking about... Ugh, more warps? Bigger warps? It didn't even matter. He told her she needed to get a clock and not call him before ten. Then he couldn't get back to sleep. He forced himself to drink an energy drink that he hated (which he also technically wasn’t supposed to do). That was wearing off right about... Now. And he could _ really _ use it right about now.

"Okay. Let's take this from the top." Steven yawned as he crossed his arms at the two teens sitting on his couch. Connie looking calm and collected, Lars looking frustrated, and both of them literally as far apart as the couch would let them be. "Somebody needs to tell me _ what happened _."

"I don't know!" Lars shouted. "Your nerd girlfriend is mad at me and she won't tell me why."

"I'm not mad," Connie said.

"You're beating me up in practice!"

She coldly looked at him over her shoulder, "Maybe you're just bad at it."

He choked, flushing and looked back to Steven. "See?"

"I'm starting to think you're mad at Lars, Connie," he said, with the patience and gentleness only Steven could manage. "We can't fix it if you don't talk about it."

Just for a moment, her face wrinkled up with something before smoothing out. It was too fast to say for sure, but it looked like embarrassment. Steven sighed as he sat beside her on the couch. "You can whisper it to me, okay? We'll work it out from there."

"I'm not _ mad_. Just annoyed," she mumbled. But she looked at him, and saw he was tired, and caved immediately to his exhausted eyes. Her hands cupped around his ear and whispered quickly, and Steven swallowed a laugh before it happened. Last thing he needed was to embarrass her more. Or get her mad at him.

"How many times?" he asked.

"Three."

"Did you tell him to stop?"

"Yes!" 

"And he shouldn't have done it anymore when you asked him to stop," Steven began, taking a deep breath. "But, you know that _ he _ probably thought you were playing around and it wasn't a big deal. Because asking people to stop is what people normally do when that happens. You know that, right?" 

"No." She glared. "I told him to stop and he did it two more times!"

"And he _ should have stopped _," Steven agreed. "But sometimes, people get confused. Like when we're joking around, you say shut up and you don't mean it, do you?"

She took a very, very angry breath and didn't answer. Good enough. He was going to speedrun mediate this and go get a nap. He could make it up to his bed, right? Fifty/fifty chance at this point. It’d be fine. Connie could carry him upstairs if he didn’t make it.

"Okay. So, what you need to do is tell him that you mean it when you say stop. And Lars isn't a jerk, so he's not going to do it any more.” He patted her shoulder. “And you _ know _ that, and the only reason you're even dragging this out is because you're embarrassed about being upset. You're allowed to be upset. But you have to talk about it or it can't get better."

Her eyes widened slightly, a smile starting to emerge. "Or _ you _ could tell-"

"Nope." He wasn’t dealing with any of that nonsense today. Bad news, Connie. Steven Universe was one hundred percent out of selflessness today. He scooped her up and set her on the other side of him, within talking distance of Lars. "_You _ fix it."

Lars cleared his throat. “Uh, I don’t know what I did, but if you tell me I won’t do it again.”

“You know how, when we’re training, we joke around and push and shove and wrestle?” Connie’s leg was bouncing rapidly, shoulders stiff. “That’s fine. I just don’t… You can’t tickle me. I hate it.”

“That’s _ it_? You’ve been punching me full force in the face because I pinched your knee a couple times?” He blinked. 

Ooh, that was a fumble. Not the way Steven would have phrased that. Steven could probably find a way to help with that, but he was pretty sure he was helping most of all by not interrupting them both by shouting about how he needed a nap and he had no emotions right now, just a yawning void of exhaustion that only sleep could fill.

“I don’t like it!” Her voice cracked.

He held up his hands. “I won’t do it anymore, gees. I’m just saying that you could have said it a week ago. How was I supposed to know?”

“I said stop!” she snapped.

“But not, like, seriously?” He gestured awkwardly with his hands. “Just, the way you normally tell people to cut it out when you’re joking around? If you told me it was a big deal, I would’ve just stopped. And Steven does it all the time, so how was I supposed to know that-”

“That’s different! He’s Steven! You’re Lars. We do different stuff,” she said quickly. Her hands folded neatly in her lap. Steven stared sadly. What a waste of lap space. He could be napping there. He could be napping anywhere on this couch if they weren’t having a moment. “Like, I would never punch Steven in the face.”

“Uh, you could also not punch me in the face?”

“Then how are you going to learn to dodge?” she said, with the purest curiosity and not the slightest trace of anger in her voice. Steven did laugh that time. “I’m sorry I wasn’t clearer. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it because it shouldn’t be a big deal. But it _ is _ a big deal to me and I really hate it.”

“Then I won’t do it.” Lars put his hands on her shoulders and shook her a little. “Please go easier on me. You’re kicking my ass so hard I’m actually starting to feel it.”

She giggled, punching his chest with a hollow thunk that seemed to be gentle enough that Lars didn’t feel the need to react. “Will do, Lars.”

Oh. Good. Everything was better now. He hugged Connie from behind, and his weight toppled her over onto Lars with a squeak. Even _ better_. Cuddle pile. Steven was going to sleep for five thousand years, and when he woke up, no one would bother him with stupid stuff ever again. And he could play whatever video games they had in the future. That was going to be _ sooooo nice _.

“Steven,” Connie muttered, “could you maybe wake up long enough to get to your bed?”

“No,” he mumbled, arms locked securely around her belly. “I fixed it. This is my reward. Nap pile.”

Lars grunted, jostling the three of them as he maneuvered. Steven thought dimly how nice it was that Lars wasn’t a big jerk anymore about affection, which wasn’t very nice but Steven couldn’t find it in himself to care. He was supposed to be sleeping already. The problem was solved. The older boy said, “It’s a big couch, we can make this work. Just have to play a little Tetris.”

“It’s not _ that _ big,” Connie argued.

She was right. Steven lazily stretched an arm to the side and yanked the table over, slotting it neatly against the L-shaped couch. Now there was space for everyone. Two problems solved meant a ten thousand year nap for Steven. He nuzzled his face against Connie’s back, half on the table, and thought all about how Tetris would work in the future as his thoughts got nice and fuzzy. Except Connie wouldn’t stop squirming.

“If you just let go, I can get _ pillows _ and _ blankets _ and this nap could be pretty great, Steven,” she was saying sweetly.

Lies and trickery. If he let go, more terrible things would happen and he wouldn’t get to nap at all. It was obvious. He wasn’t sure what would go wrong. Perhaps Connie would run into Peridot and they would start screaming about midichlorians, or Lars would start crying about the cracks in his Swiss roll meaning he was never going to be a successful baker. Everyone was a disaster all the time, but the cuddle pile was perfect. He gave half the cuddle pile a squeeze and got a squeak. He giggled happily. “No.”

“I’ll get it.” Half the body heat went away, and Steven whined.

Nothing was fair. He was _ tired _ and everything was _ hard _ and pillows were _ stupid _ . A hand lifted his head and dropped it down onto the pillow. He stopped whining. This was actually much better. A blanket covered him. Oh, okay. That was actually pretty great. Everyone was pushed and tugged until Connie was pressed up against the couch, Steven was mostly on the couch, and Lars was on the table, back against his. Everything was fluff and soft and warm. _ Finally _.

“Why do you get to be on your phone?” Connie whispered.

“Uh, because I’m not Steven’s dedicated support person?” he whispered back.

“Just pass me my backpack or get my phone out of it.”

“Take a nap. You’re ten. You probably nap all the time.”

“I’m sixteen and two months!”

“Wow. That sounds like something a ten year old would say.”

Somehow, the sound of bickering was extremely comforting. Wrapped up in blankets and body heat, Steven finally got some sleep.


	19. Impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NB: Takes place post-movie. Prompt: Steven taking a nap.

There were a lot of things that his girlfriend did that impressed Steven Universe; Connie was a skilled swordfighter, genius student, and as nimble and light-footed as Pearl. Some things about her were less obvious, but still impressive in their own way, at least to him. She could read a book cover to cover faster than any human he’d ever met, she picked up new instruments almost faster than he could teach them, and there wasn’t a better dance partner in the world (at least, as far as Steven was concerned). 

Then again, some things about Connie were impressive in the grand, dramatic sense. She had stayed by his side no matter the danger; even when she had every chance to leave, she had the courage to stay. More than that, she was selfless, always willing to help him, even when he felt he didn’t deserve it. Steven had trouble not feeling his emotions; his anger and his fear and his sadness were writ large across his face, whether he liked it or not, and Connie never seemed to struggle with that. When she felt emotions they flowed through her and she moved on, and she didn’t have to show her feelings if she didn’t want to. Rarely was she the type to fling her emotions like a fireball, or bury them in a darkness they’d eventually light up. Sometimes he wished he could ruminate on his emotions, like she did, without immediately falling to either extreme.

And of course, some things were subtle in the way they impressed upon him over time; her unwavering support in his troubles with the Diamonds, the way her smile and her laughter lit the room far brighter than any sunrise on any planet he’d ever visited, the littler, campfire-warm feeling in his chest when they held hands, when they kissed, when they simply  _ were _ , together. That burning sensation across his face when she surprised him with a kiss, and the look she gave him in return... Her excited face when they were on some adventure was a sight he often recalled when he needed comfort, far from home. And of  _ course _ , all of that paled in comparison to the experience that was Stevonnie.

But some things, Steven felt positive, were impressive to him because he alone had been given the opportunity to notice.

For example, he was confident only he knew that Connie could fall asleep  _ anywhere _ . When they were kids, this hadn’t stood out as much; but he’d put the pieces together a while back. The first time that he could remember her asleep somewhere odd was when they’d ridden Lion to the tower Lapis made when she stole the ocean. She’d been hugging him tight for hours as Lion ambled across the seabed alongside his Dad’s van, and her grip weakened, though she kept her seat. When he had glanced back, her face was pressed up against his back, glasses just a little crooked- looking back now, he found it pretty cute, though at the time he’d had other things on his mind.

Then, there was that winter’s evening his dad had driven them to her house, and Steven had slept on the Maheswaran family couch downstairs for the night. At some point after midnight, he’d woken up to see Connie coming down the stairs, and she moved to sit at the foot of the couch he was using as a bed. They’d watched the snow fall, together, and at some point he remembered hearing those soft snores from by his feet (those were familiar to him at this point, and he could hear them at the moment, but he could still recall with Sapphire-like clarity the first time he heard them), shortly before falling asleep himself. That time, he’d noted how softly she slept despite the fact that she was sitting up straight, but now he could see the pattern.

Steven remembered, also, the night after Garnet’s wedding, when he’d flown his mother’s old leg-ship to Homeworld- Connie and Amethyst had fallen asleep using Garnet’s own legs as pillows. In spite of the gaze of the two diamonds who’d tried to kill them the night before, and the unfamiliar environs of the ship, and the FTL travel going on around them (he knew she loved technology, especially stuff she didn’t understand- yet,) she’d fallen asleep. Like the situation with Lapis, he’d been preoccupied at the time (piloting the leg-ship, even with the help of Blue, Yellow, and Pearl, wasn’t easy,) but had still noticed.

It had really clicked, for him, on Homeworld, with the latter event so close to the next two- she’d slept at the foot of “his” bed in the facsimile of his room the pebbles had made, and he’d had trouble sleeping there himself (it was just a little... off from his real room. And then she’d fallen asleep, and she was so  _ close _ to him, how could he fall asleep when Connie was sleeping  _ right there _ -). Steven was surprised by that, but even more surprised the next day, after the Era Three ball, when he returned from his possession of the Watermelon Steven on Earth. He hadn’t expected to find her just where he’d left her, hands on his shoulders, in that little tower cell. He certainly hadn’t expected to find her sleeping there, without having moved an inch. Oh stars, had she  _ really _ let him use her legs as a pillow? How had it still taken him  _ years  _ after to ask her on a date!? Well, okay, they’d been fourteen and thirteen, at the time...

But they certainly weren’t now. Steven returned to reality, from his reminiscences, and was suddenly very aware of the pleasantly warm weight of his girlfriend’s head on his shoulder, her side pressed up against his arm, her arm around his shoulders. What had they been doing? Watching television? It didn’t seem to matter now, so he turned the TV off. She stirred, a little, and her head turned, just a little, moving closer to his own. His heart leapt with joy. She nuzzled closer to him, and he leaned into her. The sea, a near constant presence in his life as long as he could remember, kept up a comforting susurrus through the walls of his bedroom. Connie snored gently beside him, and the seagulls called out in the sky above the temple. The midday sun shone overhead, warming the whole house, and any hint of a chilling seabreeze was kept at bay by the sturdy wooden walls (thank you, Bismuth). He was home, he was safe, he had no pressing engagements for the foreseeable future, and most importantly, he couldn’t move without waking his Strawberry. So the happy little Biscuit closed his eyes, and joined his Jam Bud in her nap.

* * *

There were a lot of things that her boyfriend did that impressed Connie Maheswaran; Steven was a compassionate, charismatic leader, emotionally honest, and as strong and heavy-hitting as Garnet. Some things about him were less obvious, but she couldn’t help but be impressed by them. He could read subtext in a book better than anyone she’d met save Peridot, he learned new instruments (either from Mr. Universe, or on his own) with lightning speed- just so he could teach them to her, and there wasn’t a better dance partner in the world (objectivity be damned, Connie knew this to be true).

But then, some things about Steven were impressive in the imposing, magical-destiny sense. He had let her stay by his side no matter the danger; even when he had offered every chance to leave, he trusted her enough to let her stay. More than that, he was confident to the point that it was contagious, always willing to try new things and help  _ her _ try new things, but never taking her further than she felt comfortable. Connie had trouble not feeling her emotions; a mask of passivity kept a lid on a pot boiling over- always,  _ always _ in danger of spilling out- and Steven rarely ever seemed to struggle with that. When he felt emotions, often they burned out of him with a star’s fury and he moved on, and the way that he simply let them out was an enigma to her. Sometimes, Connie knew, he’d lock away his problems, and while she had experience navigating the lost jungle temple of his subconscious so he could  _ talk about his problems for once, Steven _ ... He didn’t dwell on things as much as she did, and she wished she could do that, sometimes.

And of course, some things were subtle in the way they impressed upon her over time; his unwavering dedication in his work with the Diamonds, the way his smile and his laughter lit the room more brightly than any radiance White Diamond could conjure, the littler, hearthfire-warm feeling in her chest when they held hands, when they kissed, when they simply  _ were _ , together. That strawberry-red blush across his face when she surprised him with a kiss, and the look she gave him in return... The way he looked at her when they were at home, together, gave her comfort when they were off saving the galaxy. And of  _ course _ , all of that paled in comparison to the experience that was Stevonnie.

But some things, Connie knew absolutely, were impressive to her because she alone had been given the opportunity to notice.

For example, when she stirred in her sleep, teetering on the brink of waking and dreaming, Steven drew her in closer, for comfort. When she threatened awareness, disturbance of his peaceful noonday repose, she felt him tense, and when she feigned a return to sleep, a deeper snore, and a settling of nerves, so too did he relax. And only when he was sure they were safe, that the day was theirs and the weight of the world was off his shoulders for now, did he allow himself to join her in the land of the dreaming. Steven rarely took breaks, she noticed. Only Connie had the chance to see how determined he was to repair the damage the Gem Empire had done to the cosmos. Nobody but her saw how much this relentless dedication- to  _ good _ , to  _ fixing _ and mending and  _ making whole  _ what was  _ broken _ \- took out of him. Gems don’t tire, after all, and the Crystal Gems were still Gems. She was glad to be there for the growing pains, both of the Empire and of the boy who lead it (Steven’s hands were so big, now, so warm when they held hers, and his hugs were like a blanket on a summer’s day), glad to do what she could to help. 

So Connie was there, at his side, to help him when he struggled. Who else could comfort him about the power he hadn’t known about, the ground-shattering strength the Pink Diamond gem contained? The girl who’d broken the arm of a stranger with strength she hadn’t expected was willing to lend an ear, offer advice. When he wouldn’t allow himself a break, when he forgot himself in the immensity of reforming tyrants into peacemakers, Connie could put her foot down and returned him to reality, and his own needs. That was necessary less and less, though, as he realised the value of self-care (and of talking to his family and friends about his woes- catharsis is highly underrated) he was more and more willing to rest when he needed it. Really, she was lucky that Steven was such a heavy sleeper (and that, this time, he wasn’t leaning on her as much as on the bed), because he deserved all the rest he got.

Careful not to disturb her Biscuit, Connie stood and walked briskly down the stairs. Quietly as she could manage, she opened Steven’s big linen cabinet and got out a soft blanket. Back up the stairs she went, careful on their polished wooden surface, until she returned to her place. Whatever frown had started forming on his face in her absence was wiped away with her return, and the fluffy warmth of the blanket Connie brought with her drew out a contented sigh and his trademark warm smile. The similarly happy little Strawberry cuddled back up against her Jam Bud, closed her eyes, and returned to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, really, what else was I gonna write with a prompt like that? Had to be Connverse fluff.


	20. All Tuckered Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Steven Takes a Nap

Steven Universe, at the tender age of twelve, runs up the stairs to the mezzanine floor and jumps onto the bed. He immediately wiggles his stocky little banana pajama-covered frame down under the covers and turns off the lamp. It’s bedtime, and even though his heart is still thumping from the rush of it all, he knows for a fact that all growing boys need their sleep.

But after some tossing and turning, he realizes the enormity of the task before him. It had been such an eventful day, after all. Not even the news that his favorite treat has been discontinued could really ruin the joy that had besieged his little heart for the majority of the afternoon.

He smiles as he remembers how he’d helped them. He’d saved his friends from the monster!

He’d summoned his weapon - a shield! So cool!

He is a gem, just like his friends, and they’d accepted him onto the team. Soon, he’d even get to go on missions! Today had sort of been like a mission, he thought to himself, smiling with no small amount of pride. It’s all so buzzy to think about but he closes his eyes anyway. 

All he can focus on is his thumping heartbeat.

He wants to learn everything, to help people, to protect the world from harm. 

Just like his mother once did.

Wait. He’s missing something.

His eyes fly open. Of course. His favorite toy, off to the side of the bed. 

“MC Bear Bear! Get over here, you,” he says in chiding tones as he grabs his little friend and pulls him in for a hug. He is happy. His bedtime buddy is happy.

_Such an awesome day,_ he thinks to himself, still giddy from the rush. He’s a little sad to see today end, but gosh is he excited for tomorrow.

And tomorrow’s tomorrow, and beyond that, even - what kind of a future will lie ahead! A happy one, he hopes. He thinks of his mother, whose portrait he now flicks his eyes to the other side of the open-plan house to regard. There she is, magenta ringlets flowing down over her shoulders, her countenance serene as she watches over him. Over all of them.

_She’s so beautiful,_ he thinks. _So great._ She protected the entire Earth, after all. He’s still a little fuzzy on the details, but she must have been so brave and clever. His dad loves her still - that has always been obvious in how he smiles whenever he speaks of her, the way his eyes soften. 

The gems also think the world of her. He’s noticed that when Garnet speaks of her it’s with reverence. With Pearl, it is with longing. Amethyst, admiration. She must have been something special. He wishes he could have known her, too. 

But he has the next best thing, of course; he is her son. And her gem? It belongs to him now, and - _Wow_. It all rushes back to him, that giddy excitement. He summoned a shield! He hopes he can do it again someday, and he wonders when that day will come. What will he be doing? Will he be saving someone? From what? 

There’s no way he can possibly sleep anytime soon, but he knows he should, so he tries. He nestles deeper into the pillow and blankets, trying his best to clear his mind. 

His warm hands snuggle the bear up close to his face. 

<s>Much later, those same hands are heavy and empty, reaching for someone who’s gone.</s>

Excitement can quickly give way to exhaustion and soon his eyes start to slowly close. 

<s>Tear-stained and hollow given enough time.</s>

In the contentedness of this perfect moment, his gemstone glows softly under his pajama shirt. 

His rose quartz gemstone <s>and the secrets it hides.</s>


	21. Sleeping Beauty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Steven takes a nap.

Saying that Steven was tired would be like saying the Pyramids were built more than ten years ago; technically true, but such a _ vast _ understatement that the statement lost all meaning. Exhausted might be a better word, an all-encompassing tiredness which permeated throughout his body as his mind succumbed to the entropy of wakefulness.

It was as much mental as it was physical. Deeper than the physical need for sleep was the emotional need for _ rest,_ for a break, no matter how small. For time to relax, with no gem monsters who needed to be poofed and purified, no diamonds demanding his attention, no Peridots begging to show him their newest experiment and then trying to stick him in quarantine for hours on end. No gems coming up to thank him for everything he’d done for the Gempire, which was worse than the others because he needed (and wanted!) to look like he we was giving them the attention they deserved, which meant no yawning and no spacing out and _ definitely _ no nodding off.

...Stars, the last thirty-five hours had been _ exhausting._

But now Steven was here, alone in his home, with nothing needing his attention. Finally, he could rest.

_ Not just yet, _ the flight of stairs leading to his bedroom seemed to say. Steven eyed them, eyes going over every single one of the dozen steps. Exhausted as he was, every single single one would be a fresh kind of hell.

Then he eyed the couch.

It looked rather comfy, and was also right at collapsing height. _ Come to me, _ it called, imaginary voice somehow sweeter than that of the stairs. _ I demand nothing from you, and offer everything. _

It took a full three seconds for Steven to decide on the couch, which, given the state of his sleep-deprived brain, was practically instantaneous. “Oh, sweet couch,” he muttered as he collapsed into the couch’s soft, loving embrace. “You’re a... you... youvebeenalassogtommm...” He was unconscious as soon as his brain registered the soft surface beneath him.

Over the course of a few hours, the Crystal Gems returned to the temple: Pearl from her date, Amethyst from a night catching up with Vidalia, and Garnet from a solo mission. Pearl brought Steven some blankets, Garnet gave him a kiss on the head, and Amethyst wished him sweet dreams.

Not a single one of them noticed the faint glowing of his gem, hidden by his shirt.

* * *

Twelve hours later, at the ripe hour of eight in the morning, Connie dismounted Lion, knocked on the front door, and let herself in. “Hey guys,” she said, “it’s me!”

“Shhh!” Pearl stage-whispered from deeper inside. “Steven’s sleeping.”

Connie made a noise of understanding, tip-toeing towards the now-obvious form of a sleeping Steven atop the couch. All she could make out was his face, soft and round, unmarred by the lines of stress that had recently been so prevalent.

If Pearl noticed the slight blush the sight caused, she didn’t comment on it.

“Steven deserves the rest,” Connie said, making sure to keep her voice down. “Knowing him, he’ll try to pull another all-nighter once he wakes up.” That brought a smile to their faces, smiles born of equal parts endearment and frustration. Connie stretched, and said “Call me once he’s up and ready?”

Pearl nodded, and like that Connie was back outside and hopping onto Lion, leaving Pearl alone with Steven’s sleeping form.

* * *

  
The call Connie was waiting for never came. She spent all day half-expecting her phone to ring at any time, but it never did. Even when she took it to bed with her and spent half an hour staring at the screen, willing herself to call Pearl and ask what was going on.

It took waking up to no texts or missed calls to kick her into action. A mix of worry and indignation burned inside of her (Is Steven okay? Did no one think to call me when he woke up, or did something bad happen?) as she rode Lion down to the Temple.

She didn’t bother knocking this time, instead opting to just let herself in. “Hello?” She said. “Anyone home? Pearl? Amethyst, Garnet? St-“ She paused. Steven _ was _there. In fact, he was exactly where he had been yesterday.

Lying on the couch, fast asleep.

There was a note on the table next to him, neatly folded and written with flowery handwriting. Delicately opening it, she read;

_ Steven _

_ We’re out for the day, but I’ll be going to and from the Temple and we’ll all be back by sundown. If it’s any emergency, you can always use the Warp Whistle to contact me. A homeworld gem came looking for you on the diamonds’ behalf, but we told them you had important business to attend to, so you should be free of them for the next while. _

_ Also, please remember to call Connie (and myself, of course) once you wake up, _

_ Love, Pearl._

Well, that was certainly... something. Had Steven _ really _ been asleep for this long? That meant... some quick mental math gave an unpleasant answer; he had been asleep for thirty-six hours.

Now, Connie had heard of people sleeping for a long time, but _thirty-six hours?_ That crossed the line from unusual to troubling. He _had_ had a long day, sure, but _this_ was a bit much. 

_ This _ was making her alarm bells ring.

Whatever it was, this wasn’t natural. Was Steven trapped in an astral projection or something? Maybe, but- back when the two of them had been locked in that tower on Homeworld, she had spent a lot of time observing him as he projected (What, it’s not like there was anything else to do!) and she had noticed that his “rest” had always been fitful: he had squirmed or made expressions nonstop, never completely at ease. But right now, he was completely peaceful.

Loathe as she was to disturb him, Connie might have to wake him up herself. 

Carefully as she could, she nudged his shoulder. “Steven?” She said. “Hey Steven, can you wake up?” Nothing happened. She nudged him again, harder this time. “Come on, Steven, wake up.” Still nothing. She shoved him, putting all her weight behind it and shouting “Steven, wake up!”

Nothing. He didn’t open his eyes, he didn’t groan, he didn’t even roll over. If not for the gentle rise and fall of his chest, Connie would have thought he was dead.

The knot of worry in her stomach grew larger, powered by the rapid _ thump-thump-thump _of her heart, devouring her intestines and spitting out anxiety and worry.

_ What now? _ She thought. Waking up Steven didn’t work, so now what did she do?

_ Get an adult! _Her brain responded. Which wasn’t really an option, considering that the Crystal Gems were all out for the- wait, she could use the warp whistle! Connie dashed over to the counter and blew as hard as she could.

It took a second for Pearl to appear on the warp pad, concern written on her face. “Steven, what’s the-“ The sight of Connie and a sleeping Steven stopped Pearl in her tracks. “Connie? What’s going on? Did Steven wake up?”

“No,” Connie said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice, “he’s still asleep and that’s the problem!”

In a second, Pearl was by Connie’s side. “What do you mean? I know this is an abnormally long time for him to be asleep, but how does this qualify as an emergency?”

The words practically leapt out of Connie’s mouth. “He’s been asleep for close to thirty-six hours now and that’s not _ natural, _so I tried to wake him up-” Pearl tried to protest but Connie didn’t stop “but he didn’t react to _ anything I did, _I all but _ screamed in his ear _ and he didn’t even budge!”

For a second, Pearl was silent. Her gaze flicked between Steven and Connie, assessing, judging.

Then she said “Okay, this is… probably not good. Let’s try different ways to wake him up, and if none of them work, then- then we’ll get the others and see put our heads together.”

Connie nodded, and the two of them got to work.

* * *

  
Half an hour later, Connie and Pearl were far more frustrated than concerned, which _ really _ said a lot. They had yelled in his ear, cooked delicious food and made him smell it, held a pepper under his nose to make him sneeze, and even dumped a bucket of ice-cold water on his head, all to no avail.

However, they _ had _ discovered something as interesting as it was concerning; Steven was, for lack of a better word, a complete ragdoll.

It had started when Connie had suggested holding a pepper under his nose; tests on herself confirmed that it could make _ anyone _ sneeze after a whiff or two. However, when they went ahead and did it to Steven, he simply.. didn’t react. He did nothing. Sneezing was the body’s natural reaction, so him being asleep _ shouldn’t _ have affected anything, and yet it _ did_. It took far too many whiffs on Steven’s part for Connie to realize that if he wasn’t sneezing at all, holding the pepper under his nose might actually be _ dangerous _ and then that was another round of panic.

At the very least, it stopped them from dumping the ice water _ directly _ onto Steven’s face, which may have actually _ drowned him. _

Which led to their current situation: moving Steven into his bed so he could be dead to the world in a more comfortable (and private) place. Well, _ Pearl _ was moving him, Connie was mostly following her and feeling a bit useless.

“Alright,” Pearl said, setting him down on the bed in a mess of clothes and limbs. “Steven’s in his bed now, so let’s...” she trailed off, her eyes focused on Steven. Her eyes slowly glazed over, her features softening, worry seeming to wash away.

“Um, Pearl?” Connie said. “Are you okay?”

Pearl mumbled something that Connie couldn’t make out, her gaze not leaving Steven.

“Pearl? Pearl? Hey, Pearl!” Connie snapped her fingers in Pearl’s face, and _ that _ was enough to rouse Pearl’s attention.

“Oh, Connie! What, what was... I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Connie’s brow furrowed with concern. Pearl was attentive, Pearl was focused, Pearl was _not _ the kind of person who’d space out while in the middle of a potential crisis. “Pearl, you kinda... spaced out on me. What was that?”

“Oh, that!” Pearl, for her part, flushed and averted her eyes. “Nothing much, I just noticed Steven’s gem was, um, glowing.”

His gem was _ what? _

A quick glance confirmed that his gem_ was _glowing with a strange intensity. That was weird, definitely, and also maybe bad. “Do you have any idea what this might mean?”

Pearl shrugged with the intensity of someone who had _ not _ just noticed something disturbing. “Well, his gem is glowing, and gems only really do that if-” a yawn forced its way through her, cutting her off. “If the gem is doing something, like summoning a weapon or using a power.”

“But Steven’s not doing _ anything!_” Connie said. “I’m pretty sure he _ can’t _ do anything, so why is his Gem glowing? Do you have any ideas, Pearl?”

Pearl said nothing, instead choosing to lean on the bed and slide down. “Sorry Connie,” she said quietly, “I’ve got nothing...”

It was at this moment that Connie realized something was very wrong.

“Pearl?” She tried not to let the budding panic spread to her voice. “Pearl, what’s going on with you, are you okay, why are you-”

“I just need a little shut-eye,” Pearl murmured. “Just a little rest... that sounds wonderful...”

“Pearl?” Pearl closed her eyes, not seeming to hear Connie at all. “Pearl, Steven is in _ danger _ this is _ no time _ to be taking a nap, gems don’t even _ need _ to nap, Pearl, Pearl!”

The last bit of energy left Pearl’s form, and Connie could only watch in horror as the gem on her forehead began to glow.


	22. First Impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, lol, how about some fluff after Chungus' Stephen King short?
> 
> Prompt: Steven Takes A Nap

Greg had dropped Steven off at the temple at around noon. He was getting so big so quickly, pretty soon he would be able to move out of the van and into the temple, but he was still just a five-year old. The temple was much too dangerous a place for him to be at that age. That didn’t mean he couldn’t hang out with them every now and then, however.

Today, he was having a fun day out with Garnet and Pearl. Amethyst, absent from today’s events, had started hanging out with Vidalia quite a bit. She, like the other gems, was still coping with the loss of Rose. Everyone grieves in their own way and Amethyst was no exception. Garnet told Pearl she would come back when she was ready, that time does, in fact, heal all wounds. Pearl couldn’t exactly disagree with pre-cognitive abilities.

Like most days the gems would babysit, they stayed on the beach. Steven was in a pair of pink swim trunks and water wings as he played in the water with Garnet. Marco-polo was a common game, and Steven always seemed to win. Not that it really bothered her.

No, instead, Pearl’s whole attitude was bothering her. It had been a few years since Steven was born, and Pearl never really made an effort to get to know Steven. The only reason she was out on the beach at all was because Garnet told her she had to do it eventually. And while being on the sand, watching Garnet and Steven playing in the water was a step in the right direction, it was a pretty small one. So Garnet decided to take matters into her own hands.

Pearl was sitting in the shade of the temple’s arm, arms wrapped around her knees, when Garnet approached with Steven in tow.

“Pearl,” Garnet said, “I need you to keep an eye on Steven for a while. My future vision saw something and I need to go now.”

Pearl immediately began panicking. “Wh- right now? What is it, are we in danger? Do you need Amethyst and myself with you? When I go to get her, I can drop Steven off at her human friend’s home, it will only take a minute-”

Garnet held up her hand. “No, Pearl. I have to go _right_ now. Keep Steven safe, that’s the most important thing you can do.”

And without another word, Garnet stepped onto the warp pad and was away, leaving only two crystal gems on the beach.

Pearl sighed and fell backward, kicking up sand as her head met ground. About ten seconds passed before she saw Steven’s curly mop of hair looming over her, a confused and concerned look on his face.

“Uhhmmm…” he said, his thumb hanging out of his mouth, “Are you okay?”

Pearl closed her eyes, a grimace on her face. “Peachy.”

Steven stood there for a moment before deciding to sit down next to Pearl, his thumb never leaving his mouth. While Pearl, in the shade, tried desperately to imagine herself anywhere else, Steven was sitting in the sun, looking out at the ocean that he was still drying off from.

It was nice and warm in under the heat of the rays, but Steven felt strangely cold. He loved hanging out with Garnet, and she always told him stories about the other gems she promised he would someday meet, but now that he was sitting right next to one, he felt like she didn’t want him there. He felt bad for a moment before realizing it might just be because she didn’t really know him either.

“I’m Steven!” he exclaimed cheerfully.

“I know that,” Pearl stated simply.

“And you’re… You’re Pearl, right? ‘Least that’s what Garnet said.”

There was a pause before a long sigh. “...Yes. I am Pearl.”

“Garnet tol’ me lots about you.”

“I’ll bet.”

“She said you’re a ninja. That’s real cool.”

“... A ninja? Oh please, I’m positive the ninjutsu style was mostly copied from myself.”

Steven’s eyes lit up like stars. “You… You’re the _first_ ninja?!”

Pearl’s eyes opened. “...Yes, I believe technically that’s correct… Hm.”

Pearl genuinely never considered that before. It’s very likely that she was the originator of a rather large amount of martial arts styles known all across the Earth. This would make her a kind of grandmaster of heretofore unthinkable proportions.

Steven’s mouth had dropped. “That’s ‘mazing!”

A smile briefly crept across Pearl’s face.

“I suppose it is.”

Another silence found its way between them, but this one seemed more comfortable, allowing the waves and gulls to break through the soundless barrier that once stood firm, but now was wavering.

“Do you have wings?” he suddenly asked.

Pearl was taken aback. “Wha…?”

“Well, you have a beak, right? Aren’t you a bird person?”

Pearl huffed. “It’s not a beak, it’s just my nose.”

“That’s your nose?? Can I touch it?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Please? I’ll let you touch mine!”

“I have no desire to touch your nose, Steven.”

“Aww…”

“...You _wanted_ me to touch it?”

“No, I just really wanted to touch yours.”

Pearl was flabbergasted. Is this how all human children were? Is this how all _humans_ were? This certainly felt like a conversation she could have had with Greg, and Steven was definitely his son.

That thought gave her pause. Greg was Steven’s father, and she hated that. Her hate had been making her treat Steven unfairly. The boy didn’t choose his father, he had very little to do with his own existence. What’s more, he wasn’t just Greg’s son, he was also _Rose’s_ son. He was what Rose wanted more than anything else. Who was she to say it was wrong?

“Are you my mom?”

Pearl’s gem almost cracked right then and there.

“Wh… What ever gave you that idea?”

“Well, Garnet says she’s not my mom, but Dad says you guys are my family too… So I just thought one of you might be my mom.”

Pearl’s breath hitched as she clamored to find the right words.

“N-no, Steven. I’m not your mother. None of us are. Greg hasn’t told you about her?”

He shook his head, making Pearl heave a heavy sigh. Greg would probably be upset with her, but she didn’t really care. He deserved to know.

“Your mother was named Rose Quartz. She led a rebellion a long time ago to try to free our kind from some… Very bad people. She helped me gain my own independence and encouraged me to take up arms against those who held us all back. Oh, Steven, what battles we fought, the wars we waged… I tried my hardest to protect her as much as I could, throwing myself in front of any gem who dared to attack her. They all had to answer to the renegade pearl.”

Steven watched as Pearl gesticulated, telling her story with an increasing amount of zeal.

“You protected her from bad guys? You’re a superhero!? I never met a superhero before...”

“...Well, I suppose in a way, that’s what the Crystal Gems are. Garnet and Amethyst have all contributed to saving the Earth just like I have, all of us acting under the banner of your mother. But yes, I believe I did my fair share of protecting back then. She was a high priority target, and it was my duty to make sure she was never harmed. I did my job very well, which meant we were all able to live here in peace for a long time. My abilities meant that she was able to meet...”

She paused, unable to finish that sentence. Steven soon mirrored Pearl’s position in the sand. He lay in the sun with his eyes closed. He was completely tuckered out from his fun in the water with Garnet, and the bedtime story about princesses and swordfights probably helped.

He looked peaceful, and with his eyes closed and his curly hair drying and coming back into its usual shape, she could see her in his face. A dying spark inside of the tall, pale gem had begun to glow once more. Pearl realized her job wasn’t done. She had more protecting to do after all. Steven isn’t Rose. She had come to terms with that, but Steven is still Rose’s. If Rose decided that this child was the most important thing in the entire universe, then Pearl would guard him with her life, just like before. It was a pyrrhic victory for her, but at last, Pearl had purpose once again.

Pearl sighed bittersweetly. “She would have loved you...”

Steven yawned and rolled over into the shade, right next to Pearl, his words slurring as he succumbed to exhaustion.

“If she was like you, I think I woulda loved her too.”

Pearl froze, her eyes blinking rapidly as she processed those words. Everything was different again. But now, she felt hopeful.

Maybe it won’t be so bad after all.


	23. Dream Warriors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie battle nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, whoops, forgot to actually post this when I finished it. Have a cute thing.
> 
> Prompt: Steven takes a nap

For two weeks the Universe household had borne it, but when Nora woke screaming about shadows and monsters the fifteenth night, it was one too far.

"Telling her there's nothing in the dark isn't working, Steven. We have to do something else." Connie rubbed her burning eyes. She was three coffees deep before the sun was even up. "I can't sleep. You can't sleep. Nora definitely cannot sleep."

Steven leaned against her, letting out a yawn Lion would be proud of. "I still don't like doing it to our girl. But you're right. It's not going away. We've got to act."

"Yaaaay." Connie smiled sleepily, half nodding off before her hand slipped and spilled enough hot coffee to burn them both to full awareness.

The next afternoon, when their exhausted toddler finally succumbed to naptime, they made their move.

"You ready to go?" Steven asked, fiercely switching on a loop of gentle ocean sounds. 

"I was born ready," Connie replied as she changed into her battle nightie. 

They curled up in their bed, foreheads pressed together and determination etched on their faces, willing their minds to be in sync as they tried to join her in sleep. Exhausted as the two parents were, it didn't take long. 

Steven didn't even need to try to reach for Connie. He entered her dreams more often than not, stealing moments alone together while they slept. He found her atop a familiar simple structure, the lighthouse on the hill, dreaming lucidly while she waited for him. 

He floated up to her. "Do you think it's something serious?" 

She sighed. "It could be anything. She's four, she could've learned about a gem monster from Amethyst or just be old enough to imagine monsters in the closet and under the bed. Whatever it is, we can handle it."

He grinned. "Of course we can. We're dream warriors." He grabbed her hand and gripped her tight before opening his mind to move them along. He was always most closely bound to Connie and Nora, and it was easy to find their daughter's dream among all the myriad minds he was connected to.

The dream they entered was incredibly simple, a lone bed in a sea of shadows. Everything stretched and curled, and in the center of the warped bed Nora shivered. Her legs were curled to her chest as she stared into the gloom, timidly whispering "Mama? Dad? Please?" 

In the darkness, something growled. Shapes shifted and coiled. Their daughter whimpered, and as one Steven and Connie reacted. They dove down, letting out battlecries as they summoned their waking weapons. With a thought from Steven light filled the room, scattering the shadows and laying the murky, shifting dream creature within them bare. Connie slashed and struck at the nightmare, sword cutting into it and bursting it into black smoke that vanished. 

Nora watched in shock and joy as her parents responded. "You came!"

In the new light, the room was only a room, and their sword and shield vanished as they turned back to her. Steven scooped her up and sat down with her while Connie stroked her hair. "You're okay, sweetheart," Connie soothed. "There's nothing here anymore."

"And even if there was, your mama and I would never let anything get to you." Steven squeezed Nora tight. "Not ever."

She pressed her face to his chest. "I love you, dad."

Steven laid her back on the bed, he and Connie resting on either side, and the little family finally got some sleep. 


	24. Wheels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Healing

**You have reached the mailbox of ** “Steven Universe.”  **Please enter your password.**

******

**You have. Thirteen. New messages. First voice message:**

“Steven, it’s Pearl, are you okay? Please pick up your phone. I know you’re getting signal wherever you are, my text messages all say ‘Delivered.’ Look, if this is about what happened with… Er, ‘Volleyball,’ it’s not your fault. It’s okay, Steven, we can work through this together. Please call us soon…”

**Next voice message:**

“Ste-man, yo, you good? It’s been like three days, ghosting us ain’t cool, dude. But… Okay, listen, I probably understand this a lot better than anyone else. Being alone for a while, wanting to just get away from all the crap you gotta deal with every day, it’s normal. Heck, I still sometimes go back to the Kindergarten. My hole just kind of feels safe, and if that’s what you need, then… I guess I get it. Look, we’re not mad at you, but please at least shoot Pearl a text saying you’re okay. Garnet says you are, but it’d really put us at ease. Stay safe, bud.”

**Next voice message:**

“STEVEN UNIVERSE, YOU TELL MY DAUGHTER TO CALL ME RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

**Next voice message:**

“... I apologize for yelling at you in my earlier message. Thank you for having her call me. I just needed to know she was okay. I’m still fairly upset that both of you took off without any notice, but knowing you two are not in a ditch somewhere has put my mind at ease. I shouldn’t really be mad at you, specifically, she’s almost an adult and can make her own decisions. I’ve let up on the leash quite a bit since you two met, and after going to space, overthrowing an entire caste-based dictatorship and coming back in one piece, maybe I overreacted. So no more leash. I…  _ Trust _ you. But more than that, I trust  _ her. _ Have a safe trip.”

**Next voice message:**

“Steven, it’s Pearl again, I received your text, you’re okay, that’s good, I’m…  _ Incredibly  _ relieved. I was so worried that something bad had happened, maybe you crashed the Dondai, maybe you were lost and you dropped your phone, maybe some gem fringe group kidnapped you, maybe- ...I’m sorry. You can take care of yourself. I know that. Old habits, I suppose. Be careful, Steven. We love you.”

**Next voice message:**

“Schtu-ball, it’s your old man. First off, Happy Birthday! Do something special if you can, splurge on some gas station nachos. Processed cheese filled with preservatives always tastes good.

Anyway, I figured you wouldn’t pick up if I called, but that’s okay, I’m not gonna try to tell you to come back. Believe me, I know what it’s like to just wanna pick up everything and leave. Not so much anymore, but before I was Mr. Universe, I had that feeling every day. Eventually I acted on it. Now, you’re here. I wouldn’t change that experience for anything, and honestly? I’m kinda glad you get to explore your own wanderlust. Anyway, just calling to let you know that the registration and proof of insurance are in the glove box, the gas light is kind of broken and you can still cruise for about twenty miles if it turns on, and the spare tire is in a compartment under the mat in the trunk. Oh, and if a cop stops you, sometimes you can get out of a ticket by making them laugh. Love you, kiddo. Take it easy.”

**Next voice message:**

“Steven. Don’t eat the nachos at the rest stop near the Kansas border. It will make you violently ill and you will ruin your car’s interior. Be careful. I have to go, Kofi Pizza is threatening a ban on pizza if I don’t stop stealing his phone. We love you.”

**Next voice message:**

“Steven, we received your pictures and they all look so lovely. You really do seem happy in your ‘selfies,’ which is a welcome relief. Before you left, you looked so tired every day. You slept in a lot, stayed in your room most of the time, and when you left without saying anything, I was worried you might be in some kind of trouble. But you two look like you’re having a very nice time together. It’s funny; during the rebellion we always used to say that Earth was worth protecting due to not only it’s intelligent life, but it’s beauty. I regret not showing you more of it when you were younger, but I’m very happy that you get to experience it in your own way now that you’re old enough to truly appreciate it. Tell Connie we say hello. We love you.”

**Next voice message:**

“Steven, this is Garnet again. I’m on Pearl’s phone. Bad news about the pizza ban, I’m afraid. But I wanted you to know that we love you. We aren’t going to tell you to come home. If you want to, you will. And if not, you won’t. You needed this. That’s not a prediction. That’s all of us here at home realizing how important it can be to step away for a while. You did what was best for you, and we’re proud of you for it. We love you. We won’t let you forget that.”

**Next voice message:**

“We love you, Steven! Be careful!”

**Next voice message:**

“Love ya, Ste-man. Stay safe.”

**Next voice message:**

“Hope you’re doin’ alright, Schtu-ball. Love you.”

**Next voice message:**

“You’re going to be okay. We love you, Steven.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**You have reached the mailbox of ** “Pearl!”  **Please enter your password.**

**************************

**You have. One. New message. First voice message:**

“Hi Pearl… Gotta be honest, I was kind of expecting you to pick up. But that’s okay, I know how you sometimes lose your phone, haha! Ha… Haha… Yeesh…

“I know I haven’t really called you guys and I’m sorry I made you worry. I just really needed this. There’s still a lot of gem stuff back in Beach City that I know I have to deal with, but I just really needed to be a human being for a while. Leaving so quickly and suddenly wasn’t something that happened on purpose, I just felt like if I stayed any longer, I was going to explode or something, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I accidentally hurt someone.

“But being out here with Connie, just exploring, going wherever the spirit moves us, it’s done a lot of good. We uh… We’re sort of ‘dating’ now, which I thought was going to be different, but really it’s kind of the same but with more hand holding. I really like that. I know Earth is so important because everything changes, but it’s really nice when some things stay the same for a while. Makes me feel less anxious.

“I’ll be home in a few days, probably when October rolls around. I know communication has been sparse, but I really do miss you guys a lot. But I needed some time. It really does heal all wounds, especially when you use it right. I guess with the diamonds and Little Homeworld and all the new gems, I forgot to make time for _me._ But I finally made some. And I really hope that while I was gone, you all did the same.

“I want you to know I love you. All of you. So, so much. I’ll be home soon. Stay safe.”


	25. Utopia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Priyanka decides to look into Steven's healing spit. What could go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of the dumbest things I have written. I'm so proud.
> 
> Prompt: Healing

“Do you really think this’ll work?” Steven kicked his legs back and forth as he sat on the exam table in Dr. Maheswaran’s office.

“I certainly don’t think it hurts to try,” Priyanka answered calmly. She handed him a glass filled with ice chips. “Take one and gently suck on it. When you need to swallow, spit in this instead.” An empty glass filled his other hand.

Steven obeyed without question, but in a chair against the wall Connie rolled her eyes. “Mom, it’s magic. He healed my genetic nearsightedness and a _ stuffed animal. _ You’re not going to be able to make more of it unless you secretly learned witchcraft in med school.”

“C’mon, Connie, why not?” Steven mumbled past a mouthful of spit that quickly made its way into a glass, much to her disgust. “It doesn’t hurt me to give her some.”

Her mother looked closely at the sparkles of magic in the cup. “Thank you, Steven. Try to fill the whole thing.” Dr. Maheswaran frowned at her. “Everything has a method, Connie. If I can discover even a single new treatment from examining his saliva, it will be worth it.”

“You can try, I guess.” Connie crossed her arms. “But you’re not gonna be able to figure it out.”

* * *

_ “And for her work in developing naturally occurring nanomachines into what we now call the Panacea, we are honored to award Dr. Priyanka Maheswaran the Nobel Prize for Medicine.” _

Connie’s head fell into her hands as the auditorium filled with applause and cheering and Priyanka began her acceptance speech on the process of turning Steven’s spit into a new human utopia. Steven patted her shoulder. “At least they didn’t give her all the other ones,” Steven offered with a cheeky grin. “Since it fixes cars and planes and stuff too."

Connie groaned. "They offered mom her  _ pick. _ "

"And it'll be good for gems, too! Healing cracks without needing my spit is great. Really takes a load off of my shoulders." He thought for a moment. "I wonder if gems have any sciencey prizes for your mom?" 

Connie groaned harder, palms pressed to her temples. "Noooooo…"

* * *

"You know, when we saved the earth from the Diamonds, I didn't ask for any praise." Connie glared out the window. "I didn't expect a statue. I didn't even ask for a library named after me. I could've. I could've had it all. I was the first woman on another planet and in another galaxy and outside the earth’s orbit. That would’ve put me in like twelve history books."

Her husband put a supportive hand on her waist. "Well, it was easier to keep that on the down-low. I don't think anyone was going to miss your mom healing old age and all diseases and injuries in one swoop."

“Stop rubbing it in,” she grumbled.

Steven giggled. "But, you know, you shouldn't feel too bad. It kinda has your name on it!" 

They watched from the station window as the flagship  _ Maheswaran _ started to spin up its gravity drive for humanity's first interstellar transit. Connie sighed. "It's just not the same."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Priyanka bottles Steven spit to reverse engineer healing serum for all humans, utopia ensues**
> 
> Hadithi: There is no way to write this  
Me: ThErE iS nO wAy To WrItE tHiS
> 
> This idea was shamelessly stolen from Hadithi, who said it was impossible. It turns out she forgot to account for crack.


	26. Twenty-Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Healing
> 
> Just some fluff!

The human body reaches maturity at roughly twenty-five, and everything past that is the slow descent into death, the struggle to keep the body at its complete stage, that twenty-five year old time. Of course, most humans aren’t complete at that age. They have plenty left to do and change and grow. It’s just their bodies that have finished cooking.

Despite this, people rarely think of twenty-five as the age where everything changes.

Steven heals Connie from spars on the regular. Mostly bruises, the occasional broken bone. But, sometimes, there are cuts that he kisses away. It takes five before they notice that Steven’s healing is no longer markless. The hairline scars along her arms are faint, but indisputably pink.

They laugh it off. It’s a bit weird, but mostly the same. They’re in their mid-twenties and nothing special happens then. They live their lives in a romantic fashion, with a lot of kissing. Connie’s eyes, day after day, lighten. Imperceptibly. Until, one day, as she leans into the mirror to cover her eyelids in gold eyeshadow and finds pink irises staring back. Like the crisscross pattern that grows slowly on her arms, it’s a faint pink, but a pink. She calls Steven to double check. He confirms. Pink.

Connie strips naked in an instant and searches for more signs, and Steven helps. He twists and turns her in the light, and his fingers trace over where her hips had finished broadening and settled, a bit heavier and more muscled than their teenage years, and the stretchmarks there are pink. He can only tell in the harsh light of the bathroom.

His wife clears her throat, and he looks up. She’s holding a thin, pink strand from her fingertips. A hair. A _ pink _ hair. It dangles between them for a bit, and Connie slowly reaches up to rub her scalp. “I just plucked it. Better than going gray, right?”

“Why is this happening?” he whispers.

She shrugs. “It’s clearly the healing, and judging from how all your _ other _powers work, it’s probably about feelings. Do you want us to grow old together, Steven, or do you want us to stay young as long as we can?”

He takes the strand from her fingers, disbelieving, “I’m not letting you age.”

“Perfect,” she says, jolting him from his guilty reverie. He looks at her beaming face. “I’ll be honest - I wasn’t looking forward to it.”

There’s downsides to living as long as they want. They know that. At twenty-five, they are both mentally developed adults, whose bodies would be aging if it weren’t for pink sparkles. But Connie isn’t going to stop kissing him. Steven can’t stop thinking of this moment as a perfect place to stop aging. They’re locked in.

In the years to come, they will savor the pictures of Connie’s hair not going the standard salt and pepper, but black and pink from Steven’s constant magic touch. More and more wounds heal pink, first cuts, then broken bones, then bruises, so the pictures in their album are a timeline of Connie getting covered more and more in pink splotches.

Eventually, age comes for all of her. Her skin changes, until all of her is one pink hue. It’s nice, because things are back to how they once were. When he kisses her wounds, there aren’t any scars left over at all. She’s just healed. She’s just fine.

“How old are we this year?” Connie murmurs to herself at the New Year, glaring at her phone. “It’s so hard to find a website that translates the new calendar into the one we were born under. Steven, any guesses?”

Steven looks her up and down and grins. “Twenty-five.”


	27. It Hurts To Heal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Healing
> 
> Content warning for graphic descriptions of violence

When Steven had first discovered his healing power, he had been positively jubilant. Being able to heal meant that even if he messed up and someone got hurt, he could still help them! Even now, with the full might of a Diamond, his healing spit was his most valuable power.

Sure, bubbles and shields were invaluable in a fight, but Steven was never a fighter at heart. What he was concerned with was what came after, when the fight was over and everything (and everyone) that was broken had to be put back together.

More often than not, picking up the pieces was more horrible than the fight itself.

Steven didn’t like fighting one bit, but he was strong enough that he could usually overpower his opponent without anyone getting too hurt: rogue or corrupted gems could be poofed without any permanent damage, and on the rare occasion Steven had been forced to fight a human, he had won without a single drop of blood being spilled. All this was to say, Steven didn’t see much blood when he fought.

When dealing with the aftermath of someone else’s rampage, however, he had no such luxury.

Corrupted gems tended to stay away from populated areas, but every once in a while one would wander onto a human settlement or a few humans would run into a corrupted gem, and things would get…

Ugly.

They would gut ugly and bloody and gory and Steven was the one who had to clean up the aftermath.

The first time Steven saw a serious injury was when Lapis (accidentally!) broke his dad’s leg. It wasn’t that bad once it got tended to, but before…

_ (Legs weren’t supposed to bend like that, Dad was screaming and the gems were all in motion but Steven couldn’t move, couldn’t tear his gaze away from Dad’s leg, it bent at the shin why did it bend at the shin oh Stars he could feel puke rising up through his throat) _

Back in the real world, Steven hugged his legs to his chest.

It had taken ages before the thought of his dad’s broken leg stopped popping up in his head and making his stomach churn, but eventually Steven had been able to keep it out of his head.

Almost a year later, they ran into some hikers who had the misfortune of coming across a corrupted quartz. Their injuries had been severe, but Steven had healed them all and everyone came out none the worse- at least on the surface.

Below the surface…

_ (She was screaming wordlessly, in too much pain to say anything, white tank-top doing nothing to hide the bloody scratches across her back, the flesh mangled beyond recognition, her partner was even worse, laying on his back, strangled wheezing the only thing his crushed windpipe could produce, pieces of ribs were poking out of his chest and stomach his guts were leaking out of his side the light was fading from his eyes but he was looking at Steven silently pleading begging for help) _

...It had been hard on him.

And it had been hard on him every other time someone came to him with something serious. Every limb that bent the wrong way, every ugly, gaping wound, every scream or cry or hiss of pain, they all stuck with him.

But what could he do? Stop healing people? Make the decision to _ not _ help people who needed him?

He couldn’t do that. Not for anything in the world, and _ certainly _ not because it made him want to throw up. Steven Universe wanted nothing more than to help people, and he had never let his own weakness stop him before.

So for now, he would just have to do like he always did; hug his knees to his chest and try not to think of blood and guts and screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the positive feedback (or as you call it, screams of terror) on my last drabble, as well as all the others! I find it difficult to reply to comments, but know that I appreciate you dearly!
> 
> (I swear I’m not writing these to hurt you, I just need to be the darkness that balances out everyone else’s light)


	28. Game Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Healing

“Welcome!” said Ronaldo, gesturing dramatically from the head of Steven’s dining room table. “To the first weekly Couples ‘Arenas and Monsters’ Saturday Night Game Night Fun Zone… Night!” He paused. “We may need to workshop that a little,” he added quietly.

Sadie smiled encouragingly and so did Steven and Connie. Lars sat there with a vague aloofness that Ronaldo knew was forced. Next to Connie, Sapphire sat patiently. Beside her was Ruby, chomping at the bit.

“Let’s go!” said Ruby. “I came here for an _adventure!_”

“Oh!” said Connie, surprised. “I didn’t know you guys were here on purpose.”

“Of course we are,” replied Sapphire coolly.

Ronaldo smiled widely. “That’s _great!_ The more the merrier! Luckily I have enough pre-made character sheets for every-”

“No need,” said Sapphire, raising a hand and shaking her head. “Ruby and I already.”

She stopped mid-sentence on purpose. She knew she was about to be interrupted.

“We have a character!” exclaimed Ruby as she excitedly slammed a sheet of paper down on the table in front of them. _“Bam!”_

The crowd leaned in to see.

“Your character is… Garnet?” Connie asked as she read. “A level 75 Gem Warrior.” She giggled. “Look, there’s even a photo of Garnet taped here.”

She was right. There was a selfie of Garnet, thumbs-up and everything.

Then, frowning, Connie glanced up at Ronaldo. “Wait. Her stats are all maxed. Is this allowed?”

The big guy shrugged. “I mean… it checks out, right?”

“Of course it does,” she had to admit.

“Wait. Does this mean-“ Steven looked at the two gems, starry-eyed. “Have you guys played this before?”

Sapphire nodded. “Of course we have. Many times.”

“We _love_ this game! Now _let’s go_!”

Ronaldo raised his hands. “Hold your horses, we need to make sure everyone’s saddled up with a character first. Who else did their homework?”

A chorus of hands went up, and everyone produced their character sheets. Everyone, except-

“Uhh… Homework?” asked Lars.

“Oh c’mon man,” Ruby groaned impatiently.

But Ronaldo had a solution. “I got you, fam. In the immortal words of Ruby, _bam._”

With that, Ronaldo handed him a pre-made character sheet. Lars took it and stared at it.

“Wait.” Lars cleared his throat, “I’m Snerko the kobold? Ronnie, what the fu-”

Ronaldo raised his arms disarmingly. “I grabbed it at random!”

Before either of them could say anything else, Steven cleared his throat. “Greetings, Snerko! I am Stevonius, a knight from the nearby Kitchenlands. I can’t wait to go on an adventure with you!” Steven smiled so wholesomely that Lars was prevented from arguing further. “I have a sword and a shield, and I’m generally willing and ready to protect my friends.”

“Ah-”

“And I-” began Sadie, with a touch of flair, “am Scarlet Murdercraft. An ex-assassin running from a dark past that I know that I’ll never escape.” She lowered her voice and held her hands out in front of her, looking down at them. “Nor will I ever truly clean the _blood from my hands._”

All eyes were on her, which was exactly what she wanted. She immediately brightened! “My weapons are my wits and my dagger,” she added, smiling.

Lars was impressed and intimidated. “Woah, Sadie, I didn’t know how into this you were.”

“A kind hello to all of you,” said Connie, bowing in her chair, earning the attention of everyone present. “Allow me to also introduce myself. I am the elf Liathyra.”

Connie held up a very well-drawn picture in her signature manga style of a beautiful elf woman donned in practical clothing with a crossbow.

“I wield the Glinting Light Crossbow of Triumph. Hailing from the forests of distant Zyclene Magdi, I was born under an ill sign. I wander the earth seeking the meaning and origin of my mysterious amulet.”

Steven was spellbound. “Connie? That’s _amazing_.”

Connie chuckled lightly. “Thank you.”

“And I... am Garnet,” said Sapphire.

“_Garnet!!_” Ruby enthused at the same time.

“I guess this is a thing, then,” Lars muttered, wondering what he was in for. He glanced at his sheet. “I’m just some kobold? Looks like I have a bo staff, and... no idea what I’m doing.”

Ronaldo smiled and checked his notes.

“Now that the introductions are out of the way, you all look around you - the tavern is full, but nearby you can hear the sounds of villagers discussing in hushed, urgent tones the monsters that have been emerging from the mountainside in recent weeks...”

The adventure began.

* * *

Every Saturday night, the entire party showed up at Steven’s dining room table to continue the story. On those weeks when Sadie was out of town on tour, they accommodated her timetable and shuttled her between the two locations by way of Lars’ portals.

They soon found that the monsters pouring in from the mountainside were just a symptom of a much wider problem and turned their eyes to solving it. Roaming the countryside together, they used their particular skills to solve problems and save people, growing and learning and gathering items and abilities.

Along the way, Scarlet found herself enjoying her new life in the performance of good deeds. Liathyra drew ever closer to discovering the mysteries of her past by plunging headfirst into the future. Stevonius faced choices and dilemmas that caused him time and time again to consider his ethics as Snerko slowly grew into his own role as a capable warrior despite the stigma his kind carried.

And Garnet was Garnet.

Every new session was a welcome interlude of whimsical high fantasy in the middle of all their hectic lives.

Everything was going well.

Until…

* * *

Ronaldo cast the twenty-sided dice, and looked back at his sheet before glancing up, solemn.

“Huh. I- hmm. The chance of this was so low, but… Sorry Lars,” he said. “You don’t make it.”

“Oof,” said Sadie.

The atmosphere turned awkward, suddenly, and the room turned to Lars.

“Do I... get any last words?” he asked in halting tones.

Ronaldo rolled once more. “…No.”

“Oh… well,” he shrugged. “In that case, I spend my turn falling over, dead as a doornail.” He shrugged and grinned widely. “But hey - what’s new, am I right?”

He chuckled, and the others joined in.

All, except for Steven.

_A darkened cavern._

“I-” said Steven, breathless suddenly. The laughter quickly died down. “I rush over to heal Snerko.”

“Uh Steven,” said Ronaldo. “It’s not your turn and you don’t have that power.”

_A frantic fight in defense of helpless outcast gems and fusions._

He was sweating from every single one of his pores. “Really? I mean-“

_An explosion._

“N-no!” His heart was thumping. “Snerko _can’t_ die. Bring him back!”

“Steven?” asked Connie.

Ronaldo frowned. “I mean, it’s not the end of the world. Lars can keep playing! I’ve got heaps more-”

Then, tears budding in his eyes, Steven yelled, “I BRING LARS BACK TO LIFE.”

The room screeched into silence. All eyes were on Steven-

Steven, as he pushed his chair back and stood, gripping the edge of the table.

Steven, as the color drained from his knuckles. As cracks began to form in the tabletop.

Steven, as he grit his teeth, and then-

Big globs of tears began to pour from his eyes.

“Steven?” Connie asked, alarmed and concerned for him, “Are you okay?”

Wordlessly he turned and, wiping his face with his sleeve, quickly made for the front door.

A hushed silence fell over the rest of the gathered players for a moment before Connie stood. Chairs scraped and clinked against the floor as the rest of Steven’s friends began to also stand, to get up and follow him.

To reassure him. To help.

But Garnet held up a hand, stopping everyone in their tracks. “No. Garnet goes after Stevonius, alone.”

She turned to leave the table.

Ronaldo rolled the dice, then looked up at the remaining players. He nodded. “Garnet indeed goes after Stevonius. Alone.”

He found that he was met with disapproving stares from the remaining players. "Okay, so. Maybe that was a little dark?” he admitted reluctantly with an upward inflection.

“Yeah, _maybe,_ Ronaldo!” said Sadie, fairly cross.

“Dude, have you ever met Steven? Even once?” Asked Lars.

Ronaldo held up his hands in regret. “I’m sorry! He’s not a little kid anymore! He saved the world at least twice now - I didn’t think he’d react like that-”

“It’s okay, guys,” said Connie. “Listen. I have an idea-”

Garnet shut the door behind her.

* * *

She saw her young charge seated halfway down the steps outside and quietly went to sit next to him. The boy was staring out over the ocean, its endless waves breaking gently upon the beach before them in the darkness.

Garnet had always been a source of strength for Steven. Of stability. And in this moment he drew on that. He needed to.

“I don’t understand what happened,” he said in a low voice.

“Your friend is fine,” she said, placing a hand on his back. “Lars is having a good time. Everyone is.”

“I know,” he said, sighing. "And, I… know it’s just a game. But for a moment, just one second, it was like I was back there, on Homeworld, for the first time.” He shuddered. “And…”

He lapsed into silence. He knew Garnet was there, though, and she was. She didn’t demand anything from him.

“What’s wrong with me?” he whispered, his tone barely above that of the waves on the sand. “I know it’s just a game. Why did I react like that?”

She remained quiet. The boy was smart, and Garnet knew that he could reason this out himself. And here he was doing just that, right on cue.

“I guess it’s because everything is better now. The Diamonds are working on themselves - I mean, the Earth is _safe,_ for once! It’s never actually been safe at all before. Not in almost six thousand years. If it wasn’t gem wars, it was monsters, clusters, diamonds… _bio poison!?_ But that’s all over now.”

“It’s a whole new era,” Garnet confirmed.

“It is." He sunk into himself, blushing a little. "And I guess since then I haven’t really had to think about how hopeless everything used to seem.”

A silence passed between them, during which they watched the darkened waves gently lap over at the shoreline.

Garnet shortly spoke up. “Steven, our feelings can be very powerful. Sometimes even the smallest things can affect us in unexpected ways.”

He rubbed his eye once more with his sleeve still damp with tears. “I shouldn’t _be_ like this. I mean, everything turned out okay. In fact, _everything’s better_, now. Why on Earth did I forget all of that?”

When he leaned against her, she moved her hand from his back to around to his shoulder. She squeezed him gently into her, hug-style.

“The wave crashes in," she said. "But it always slides back out again.”

* * *

Steven, surprised to see the remaining party members in good spirits, snaked a hand up to rub the back of his head in slight embarrassment. Connie gave him a sympathetic smile as Garnet pulled the door shut behind them. He gave a small smile in return.

“Steven!” said Ronaldo. “Listen, sorry. I-”

“It’s okay, Ronaldo.”

“You sure you’re okay, man?” Lars asked carefully.

“Yeah, I.” Steven was confused. “You picked a new character already? Just like that?”

Lars grinned. “Well-”

Ronaldo interrupted, earning a glare from Lars which he ignored. “We knew you wouldn’t mind, so we played a turn without you.”

Steven frowned as his friends all smiled back at him.

“Yeah,” began Connie, brimming with excitement. “Steven, we’re about to go on a sidequest. We’re bringing Snerko back!”

Ronaldo nodded ceremoniously. “The way will be treacherous and the cost will be great, but the reward? Even greater.”

“Are you in?” asked Sadie.

“Uh, why?” Steven shot a suspicious and wounded glance at Lars. “You hated Snerko.”

“He, ah, kind of grew on me?” Lars shrugged, blushing a little. “Fiiiine. You got me - I liked him too! I was kinda sad when he bit the big one.”

Steven looked sheepish. “We don’t have to. If you’d rather just make a new character, I mean, I’ll be sad, but-”

“C’mon, Steven. You fell in love with this party!” smiled Connie. “And since there’s a chance? I mean, why wouldn’t we bring Snerko back?”

“And we’re doing this for fun, so..” Sadie shrugged. “Why not?”

Steven smiled as he looked around at the earnest faces of his friends. “In that case, I sit my butt back down!”

Ronaldo rolled the dice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had other ideas for this but it would have made it run much longer than it already does. Soooo, I might continue with this premise again if the right prompt comes up. :D


	29. Scarless Wound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NB: Takes place when Connverse are both a bit older, with Steven nearly 20 or so. Prompt: Healing  
CW: Blood

Connie, first as a musician, then as a swordfighter, had always taken good care of her hands. A violinist with bandaged hands is clumsier, and strikes sour notes more often. So, too, does the scarred sword hand send otherwise-deft strikes further afield. Simply put, a hand injury was something she had been more careful to avoid than most. Still, scrapes and scratches and singes and such were familiar to her, of course. One didn’t fight to save the universe (or, on occasion, her Universe) without breaking some skin. A little over a half-dozen pale, pink, paper-thin, perfectly-healed scars up her arms and down her torso could attest to that. 

Both of them had taken a while to notice that Steven’s healing kisses weren’t always perfect, but in Dr. Maheswaran’s professional opinion, the scars were thinner and more seamless than the best surgical scars she’d seen. Connie knew the stories of those silvery-pink lines, and something stood out about each incident. One had been a particularly nasty hit from a quartz, just below her left shoulder. It was by far the deepest cut of her injuries, so she hadn’t been surprised to find a scar there. A matched set of three, on her left bicep, were from the teeth of a corrupted gem they’d found long after healing most of the others. Steven had been busy with its knobby tail at the time, and had been distracted by her scream just long enough to take a clubbing upside the head. He’d only woken up to heal her a half-hour later, and despite that (and her own first aid) three thin scars remained. There were stories to all the other scars, of course, that explained why they hadn’t healed away to nothing like so many lesser injuries. Of all her storied injuries, few stuck in her mind as much as the scarless wound that had hurt more than any of the others.

It had happened one night while they were cooking dinner. They’d just come back from a mission, her and Steven, on some far-flung, soon-to-be-former gem colony. A fight between the local organics (six-armed, orange-skinned, otherwise humanoid) and the retreating kindergarteners had broken out, and some destabilisers had been taken- someone (or two someones) for whom destabilisers wouldn’t be an issue had been requested to act as guards, and to retrieve the fallen gems. Steven and Connie left Earth after a short minute of preparation. 

Stevonnie has arrived on the colony in question after a physics-defying (and, more importantly, _ very _ fun) dance in-warp. Later, once the shock had washed away and time had sanded down the edges, Connie would tell the story of that day and laugh at the juxtaposition of that night’s incident with the mission itself. How couldn’t she, after Stevonnie had forced back a raiding party single-handedly, broken every stolen destabiliser pointed at them, freed the captured peridots from an enemy camp, and, when faced with a six-armed, six-sword-wielding foe, danced between the flurries of blades, unscathed. A sudden sword, incoming, pointed towards their breastbone, but then their chest wasn’t there anymore. 

After all, neither was Stevonnie. 

Two locked hands had passed below the sword, as Steven and Connie dove for the opening their startled opponent left for them. Then there had been a pink glow, as Connie’s sword returned to its scabbard and Steven’s shield was held by four hands, then by two. 

Stevonnie was back, and very much inside their opponent’s guard, shield poised above their head. Instantly their shield descended. Six swords landed, clattering, on the ground, alongside a very dazed alien (mind, weren’t _ they _ the alien invader? Hmm.) 'Vonnie made their escape, rescued gems in hand, considering the implications of gemkind’s interstellar expansion.

The assorted unfamiliar Peridots had finally disestablished their kindergarten preparations, reunited with their captured comrades (and wasn’t it nice to see Homeworld gems being openly friendly?), and boarded their dropships (era two, _ much _ faster than the old ones, and with a nicer finish) with a course set for homeworld, one mostly-human fusion along for the ride. 

Riding the wave of elation a flawlessly successful mission brought with it had kept Stevonnie floating around the ship’s ceiling almost all the way to Homeworld. Then they’d exchanged pleasantries with the Diamonds, been thanked for cleaning up yet _ another _ mess of theirs, asked to stay for dinner (no, I’m quite alright, thank you , Steven and Connie already have plans and anyway you three don’t eat so frankly I’m scared to think of what you might serve for ‘dinner’ kaythanksbye!), and finally arrived back on Earth- with the evening free- before unfusing in a spinning hug that quickly collapsed upon itself into a pile of giggles and kisses halfway between the warp pad and Steven’s room. The giddy teenagers hadn’t even the presence of mind to notice she was wearing his jeans and flip-flops, or that he was wearing her skirt and barrettes. 

They were inside the beach house and halfway to the bed when their jubilant post-mission hugs-and-kisses session was rudely interrupted. Two stomachs that had recently been one stomach were equally empty, and voiced their complaints with gusto. So the pair, equally dishevelled and disgruntled, made their way downstairs to make dinner. As the evening sunlight faded from the far side of the temple hill, there came the rather unsurprising realisation that neither one had really, seriously, wanted to _ cook _ right at that moment. So, as most independent young adults did in that situation, they fell back on one of the quick and easy ol’ reliables. 

Connie had learnt curries and stir-fries aplenty from her parents, but Steven had learned how to cook from _ Pearl _ , and Pearl _ loved _ to cook, even if she hated eating. Long before the time Connie was learning ‘a few simple recipes so you won’t starve at university,’ Steven had learned to ‘cook for yourself so that Garnet or I don’t have to do it for you.’ While simple boxed-macaroni-and-cheese was in his repertoire, his guardian’s observation of centuries of human food preparation methods had indiscriminately devoured recipes for ‘Boeuf Bourguignon,’ ‘Home-baked German Breads,’ ‘Lamb Shawarma,’ ‘Fugu Chirinabe,’ ‘Korma Bagar’ and ‘Souvlaki’ (just to name a few) alongside simpler, easier-to-prepare fare. Any recipes a michelin chef would balk at were child’s play to the detail-oriented, perfectly organised planner that was Pearl. 

When Pearl taught her protégé “everything he’d ever learned about cooking,” while Steven certainly hadn’t learned everything _ she’d _ ever learned, he came as close as was mostly-humanly possible in the few years he’d had to practise. As a consequence, even his ‘lazy’ cooking (‘Oh, I just threw this together from what I had in the pantry, it’s nothing special’ he’d say, over a meal that could bring a single, poetic tear to the eye,) was a ‘lazy’ university student’s desperate dream. Connie remained proud that she herself could bring a tear to Steven’s eyes with her cooking, and had many fond memories of the years it had taken to raise her boyfriend’s tolerance for spices. 

That night, he’d salted a pot of water and put it on the burner, spaghetti at the ready. He’d thrown beef mince into a touch of olive oil, in a wok just slightly oversized for the job, and she’d been dicing two small onions to put in after, while he crushed some garlic to round out the fresh ingredients. A jar of his pre-mixed pasta sauce waited, along with the crust of a loaf from earlier in the week, to ensure they’d have a reasonable approximation of a Spaghetti Bolognese Dinner, a la Pearl. That had been the plan, anyway.

The chef’s knives at Steven’s house had always been high-quality, and Bismuth had given him a set she’d made herself as a birthday present the year before. Sharp as the edge of a shadow at high noon, and only a little bit of gem-enhancement- “My blades don’t ever go dull! You’ll never need a new set of knives again! You won’t even need a whetstone!” She’d been right about that, Bismuth had; those were still their go-to knives, years later. Connie had always taken good care of her hands. 

But back then, those knives were still new to Steven, and newer still to her. So Connie peeled the onions, and curled her fingers to keep from cutting them as she minced onions, and the sharp knife went back and forth rhythmically, and the onions became little, slightly-rounded squares. She set the knife down on the cutting board and carried board, onions, and knife over to where Steven waited, dumping the thin noodles into the roiling pot of water, giving the meat a stir-

Connie was still wearing Steven’s flip-flops. They’d been preoccupied since unfusing, and she hadn’t given it much thought since then. She only noticed, now, as the one on her left foot caught upon a slightly loosened and up-jutting floorboard. She had only just started to lose her balance, but it seemed that time had already slowed its flow around her. Connie began to pitch forward, the momentum of her upper body carrying her forward whilst her lower body was stopped. She had remarkable clarity, an eternity to take in her surroundings as she fell. The knife was still on the edge of the cutting board, and she was falling towards Steven. That wouldn’t do; he’d heard her fall, or the short intake of breath that had followed, and was turning, turning so much slower than could stop her little trip. Her right thumb moved to hold the knife against the board, but instead she knocked the hilt off the board as it turned upon its balance point and over the open air. Her right hand left the cutting board, grasping again at the hilt as Connie stretched her unobstructed leg out- a desperate swordfighter’s move to keep her stable. Her falling foot slammed into the ground, her legs in an impromptu forward fencing lunge. A couple of onion pieces scattered to the floor; not enough to ruin dinner and certainly not too many for Amethyst to clean up later. Oh, and she’d even managed to catch the knife in midair, just like one of her old drills catching a falling object while lunging to get the balance right, and she could feel the cold steel between her fingers and her palm-

And then came the faint burning, as onion remnants met with bits of flesh she swiftly felt they certainly shouldn’t have. She rotated about her torso and dropped from the lunge to her rear- rather unceremoniously, not that she noticed- as she turned her fist palm-upwards. The cutting board laid on the floor, largely forgotten, as she saw the grip of the knife off to the right side of her hand and the tip and a scant few centimetres of blade on the left. She opened her fist, and the knife slipped silently between her thumb and forefinger. Her mother had taught her all the bones in the hand, once. She could see a few, briefly- the second right metacarpal, and the third right metacarpal, and just a glimpse at the fourth right metacarpal- before something rather distressingly bright and alarmingly fast-flowing obscured her line-of-sight. She heard Steven’s breath catch as his sentence fell apart on his tongue, but she didn’t see his hands drop what he was working on and fly towards his mouth- her eyes, after all, were still tied up with figuring out what exactly was up with her hand. A few short moments along the line- time slows to a crawl during things like this, after all- the pain signal from her hand met the visual input from her eye, and somewhere in the folds of Connie’s brain they met one another, exchanged business cards, had a delightful chat over lunch, and simultaneously called her mouth to remind it that it really ought to be doing something like, perhaps, screaming. Her voice, rather tight at the moment, didn’t seem up to the task, and Connie only dropped a soft “Oh, _ fuck _,” to the floorboards with all the decorum of a high-school senior dropping their backpack at the door. Experimentally, and somewhat shakily, she crushed her injured hand into a tight fist. She wasn’t sure if doing so made the pain any less intense- but then, it didn’t seem more intense, either. She, in short order, concluded that the pain felt, not better or worse, merely... different, shortly before time resumed it’s proper rate of passing at one second per second. 

Steven was kneeling, descending towards her as she sat on the floor of his kitchen. He quickly (carefully) moved the knife and onions away from her, the knife to the countertop, the onions by the mince (hastily removed from the stove). He swiveled back to face his stricken strawberry (far redder than he would have liked). 

From what he could see Connie was hurting, and while he couldn’t quite see how bad it was, the dripping red _ reason _ he couldn’t see made him more than a little concerned. He reached out to grab her injured hand (nice and clinical word, injured, hardly a drip or dribble to it. Much cleaner than any alternatives he _ definitely _ wasn’t thinking about), and tried to speak calming words. 

Or, well, he wanted them to be calming, but what he said was: “Ohhh, gees. Okay, sweetie, don’t freak out-”

Steven hadn’t heard her curse earlier, voice soft and quiet from shock. The shock had clearly worn off by then because he very clearly heard Connie say “_ Oh, fuck _,” as something between a statement and a expletive, which was a few steps closer to freaking out than he felt she ought to be.

Connie hadn’t noticed the tears in her eyes. She hadn’t noticed the little red drops on the floorboards below her hand, nor that both of her hands were shaking, nor that the knife and cutting board had been moved safely away. She’d hardly noticed Steven coming down to hold her, to lightly draw her tightly wadded of fist of blood and pain towards him. Whatever words he said passed through her like wind. She hadn’t been thinking of much of anything other than the pain, cutting, biting, _ burning _\- she cursed aloud (this was the one Steven heard) as the knife cut at her again. Not the real knife, up on the counter; not the real her, there on the floor. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the knife cut at spool of thought-stuff she’d locked away long ago. Frayed ribbons of words unwound to the forefront of her mind.

_ You’ll never touch a violin again _

_ How could you, you know it’ll just come out wrong, with your hand like that _

_ You’ll never touch a sword again _

_ How could you, you can’t protect him if you’re too weak to hold a sword _

_ You’ll never touch _ him _ again _

_ How could you, he wouldn’t let you if you’re useless to him _

_ Useless _

_ Weak _

_ Broken _

_ Alone _

...

_ Oh. I remember this. _

It was a fight, an old fight, one she’d been fighting long before she met Steven and had won long before this, with his help. She remembered the faces of these enemy soldiers (doubt, fear, cowardice) like old friends, and it was only the smallest part of her that they had caught off-guard, distracted. She pushed that part of herself down. Old foes armed with old swords that hadn’t hurt her since she was _ eleven _; they couldn’t hurt her now. She wrenched herself from within her own head, back to what was real. 

Steven. 

Connie looked out from inside herself and saw him; he had one arm around her shoulders, the other is holding her injured hand. He’d been looking into her eyes- _ for how long? Not important _\- as he held her hand up to his lips, waiting for her permission. She realised she was still shaking, still shaken, and nodded to him; a single up-and-down motion of the head, short, direct, all she could manage. A long kiss on the back of her hand melted into a hot pink glow and the cool sensation of light and life flowing through her hand. She shuddered as the tension she hadn’t realised she’d been holding -in her shoulders, in her neck, in her back- was released in the same instant the pain left her. 

Connie was still shaking (a little less, now) as Steven helped her to her feet, helped her wash her hand clean in the kitchen sink. He dried her eyes, whispered kind words in her ear, and lead her to their couch to sit, and all the while he held her close while she slowly dragged her self back into herself. The whole time she was careful not to look at her right hand- not before she was ready. To get ready, she remembered their lessons (not Pearl’s, not her violin or schoolwork, _Garnet’s_ lessons) and pressed her fingers together just forward of her navel.

She remembered her growth, over the course of their years together, all that she’d learned and all that she’d done. She recalled all that they’d done together, the good, the bad, and the revolutionary- experiences all. She remembered what she knew about injuries involving severed muscle tissue and how they healed properly. She remembered what she knew about how wounds healed by Steven... healed; his healing didn’t just heal injuries properly, but perfectly and permanently. It worked better the closer to the time of injury (less than a minute, she’d later find out) and the shallower the injury was (all things considered, relatively minor). 

So: where did that leave Connie? Worst case scenario, the long-term damage was likely to be minimal, a scar and nothing internal that physiotherapy couldn’t help (okay. She could live with that, and even if her insecurities couldn’t, Steven wouldn’t abandon her again). Best-case scenario, the sudden influx of magical healing makes her immortal, unaging and unable to be scratched by weapons forged by mortal hands (your nerd is showing, Connie. Probably not gonna happen, either.) Most likely scenario, her hand is fine and they carry on with their evening and she has another set of repressed issues to talk to their therapist about next week.

Connie opened her eyes, looking down at her perfectly-healed, unscarred hand.

Her biscuit (a bit paler than she liked, but he’d get over it; she had) held her in a warm and fluffy embrace on the couch, and they delighted in the company of each other, as their heartrates beat back down to a slow and steady (normal? never) tempo.

Until, of course, the pasta began to boil over.

As their evening slowly worked itself back to normalcy, the tension faded completely.

Afterwards, Connie always took good care of her hands.


	30. Second First Dates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt is: SECRET SANTA! All of us drabble authors did a secret Santa where our gifts are drabbles specifically for each other based on our likes and dislikes we all listed off for everyone to see. I got LordChungus. Merry Crim, Chungus Amongus.

The air was still in Lapis’ apartment in Little Homeworld. She had spent a lot of time sleeping as of late just because she enjoyed it. Amethyst was right; it really did feel good. Unfortunately for her, this particular session of sleep would be interrupted rather abruptly as Peridot kicked open the door.

“LAZULI!” she shrieked, her pupils the size of a pinprick. Lapis groaned and turned over in her hammock, trying desperately to get another moment of comfortable rest

“Lazuli, I panicked, we have a date.”

Lapis’ eyes immediately shot open.

“A date?! What are you talking about?”

Peridot cringed slightly. “I may have accidentally asked Amethyst if she and Pearl would go out with us.”

Lazuli’s jaw dropped. “I thought we agreed that I should be the one to do the talking for that!”

“Lapis Lazuli, I do believe I was perfectly clear when I said _I panicked._”

Lapis slapped her hand over her face and kept it over her eyes. This had gone terribly wrong, their plan was completely ruined. Neither of them were even sure that the other couple would be remotely interested in polyamory, especially considering Pearl’s history with Rose. That didn’t stop either of them from admiring from afar, however. Peridot believed that objectively, a relationship would be stronger with more people in it. It was an angle she hadn’t considered when putting together her shipping chart for Camp Pining Hearts, but ever since Lapis brought up the idea of ”throuples,” her eyes had been thrust open to endless possibilities. Lazuli, on the other hand, just had a lot of love to give. It was a nice coincidence that Peridot was so open to it.

“Peridot, whyyyyy?”

Peridot grumbled to herself silently, not wanting to repeat herself. “Well at least one of us finally asked…”

Lapis’ fingers spread just enough for her to see past her hand. “What did she say?”

Peridot’s mouth opened and closed a few times, unsure if she should say exactly what happened. So instead, after a small moment of silence, she just gave a thumbs up.

Lapis screamed, partially in excitement and absolute fear. Shortly after, Peridot did the same.

“Where and when?!” Lapis managed to say through her shouts.

Peridot went still. “I uh… I don’t know, it all happened so fast. OH MY STARS WE HAVE TO TEXT THEM NOW!”

The screaming resumed with renewed enthusiasm, during which time Lapis took her phone out and fumbled with it, losing her grip and letting it fly toward Peridot. Peridot tried to grab it and failed, pushing it through the air back toward Lapis. Lapis finally grabbed it and rapidly sent a text to Amethyst.

“I DID IT!” she exclaimed.

“...Now what?” Peridot questioned.

Lapis pursed her lips before shrugging. Neither said another word for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, and without warning, the phone buzzed with a reply.

Their neighbors’ ears never stood a chance.

~  
~~  
~

The door to the beach house was kicked open by Amethyst. “PEARL!” she shouted, causing the lithe gem to completely ruin the puzzle she had been working on for the past few hours.

“Amethyst, really?! I almost had the border-” she was cut off.

“Pearl, no time, Peridot asked us out and I said yes.”

Pearl gasped. “You did what?!”

“I know, P, I screwed up the plan, but it wasn’t my fault! Neither of us thought she would be the one to ask _us_! She’s got, like, _no_ social skills! She always just says what she’s thinking, she’s cool like that!”

Pearl grumbled as she crossed her arms. “When you put it that way, had we known they were open to this, we really should have seen it coming.”

Amethyst let out a small chuckle. “Yeah… Eh, screw the plan I guess,” she said, the tension leaving her body. She wandered over to Pearl on the couch and collapsed onto her. “It ain’t exactly empirical science anyway.”

Pearl’s eyes widened slightly. She was almost impressed. “...Have you been reading the dictionary?”

“Pfft, nah. I guess all your nerd junk is rubbing off on me. Oh jeez, I can’t even imagine twice the nerd energy… Next thing you know, I’m gonna be wearing pocket protectors and khakis with the shirt tucked in.” She looked up at Pearl, who gazed back in confusion. Amethyst sighed.

“It’s a TV thing, don’t worry about it.”

Suddenly, Amethyst heard her text tone. She reached into her top and pulled out her phone and immediately sat up.

“It’s Lapis… She wants to know if we’d be down to get pizza tomorrow nightl. Okay, we just gotta play it cool…”

She tapped away on her phone as Pearl observed. She wasn’t sure what a lot of the acronyms Amethyst was using meant, but using context clues she was able to guess at some of the strings of emojis.

“Amethyst, please, that’s a bit too lewd, don’t you think?”

“Nah, P, that’s what the emojis are for. I ain’t actually saying anything, they can only guess what it means. It’s part of the fun, keep ‘em guessing.”

Pearl huffed as she remembered some of the texts Amethyst sent her when they first started dating. Maybe that peach wasn’t meant to mean her hair color after all.

“There, all done. Now we just gotta wait til tomorrow… Hoo boy, it’s gonna be a fun day.”

~  
~~  
~

All four gems were sitting awkwardly at one of the square tables. The food was ordered (nothing for Pearl or Peridot, a works pizza for Amethyst, and a single side order of fries for Lapis), but nobody was saying anything. Peridot had worn her bow-tie, which made Pearl short-circuit, Lapis was currently lost in Amethyst’s eyes and shyly looking away every time she made eye contact, and Peridot’s eyes were rapidly changing focus between Pearl and Amethyst. Eventually, it was the purple gem who broke the silence.

“Okay, this is weird. Can we all just like, be cool? I wouldn’t have said yes if we weren’t cool with this, and P-dot wouldn’t have even asked if you two weren't cool with it. Kinda feels like all of you wanna make a good first impression, which is real weird considering we’ve known each other for a few years now.”

Everyone else at the table began making sounds of general agreement, the tension melting away gradually. Unfortunately, nobody actually followed up after that and the silence came back, bringing the tension with it. Amethyst was bewildered. Was she really the only non-useless lesbian at this whole table? She was gonna have to get crafty.

“Hey Lapis?” Amethyst asked, fluttering her eyelashes at Peridot.

“Y-yeah?” she replied.

“What do you think is the best part about your GF? Is it cuz she’s little like me? Smart like Pearl? I kinda think she’s funny.”

A small smile crept across the blue gem’s face. “Now that you mention it, I kinda like all of those things. Though to be honest, my favorite thing is that she’s kind of a dork. That sounds bad, but… I dunno, I’m jealous. It would be nice to be able to be a dork sometimes, and around her, it’s easy for me to let loose.”

Amethyst gave a wide grin. “Totally, she’s not afraid to be herself! She’s like Pearl that way. One time, Pearl hit on this punk-rock human chick like it was _nothing!_ I see a lot of that in Peri too, like when she called Yellow D a clod _to her face!_ They’re both total rockstars, no doubt.”

That was quite possibly the smoothest thing Amethyst had ever done. She got Lapis talking and complemented both Pearl and Peridot in the same move. She even saw her girlfriend blush at the mention, and heard an awestruck “Wow… Thanks.” from the green gem sat across from her. She knew she was the queen when it came to flirting.

“To be honest though, Amethyst, you’re kind of the same. Not a dork, but definitely a rock star. It’s some of what makes you and Pearl so cool. I can’t speak for Peridot, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a couple as downright awesome as you two.”

While Pearl was able to accept praise elegantly and easily replied with a “thank you for saying so” to Lapis, it was now Amethyst’s turn to short-circuit. She? A rockstar? They really thought that? The thought made her blush and avert her gaze. Something her girlfriend picked up on and immediately exploited.

“Oh look, you got Amethyst blushing!” she clapped her hands and rubbed them together. She had a lot of fun flustering her girlfriend. “She’s right though, Amethyst, seeing you come out of your shell, being so independent, it’s why I gravitated toward you.”

Peridot chimed in. “Absolutely! I’ve known what the word ‘cool’ means for just about as long as I’ve known you, and as a result, I’ve always defined ‘cool’ to mean ‘like Amethyst.’”

This was lovely torture for Amethyst, whose face was a cherry-colored mess. She was offered a welcome reprieve when Jenny delivered their orders to the table.

“Alright, let’s see…” she said as she set the pizza pan down on the table. “Amethyst got her usual, and which one of you ordered the fries?”

“Oh, that was me!” Lapis said, eager to give potatoes another try. She’d tried them straight from the garden she and Peridot used to have, but it just tasted like dirt. It took some poking, but eventually Amethyst got her to understand that potatoes tasted awful unless they were ‘cooked.’ Whatever that meant.

Jenny placed the fries down in front of Lapis, and Amethyst quickly shapeshifted to steal one with an elongated pair of fingers.

“Hey!” Lapis exclaimed. “If you wanted some, you should have ordered your own.”

Amethyst scoffed with a mouth partially full of fried potato. “Aw, c’mon, Lazuli, it’s a date, ain’t it? Stealing food is part of the experience, trust me. Look, lemme make it up to you.”

She shapeshifted her hand again and grabbed another couple of fries. Lapis raised an eyebrow, but Amethyst explained.

“Alright, tilt your head up and open your mouth. I promise this’ll be cool.”

Perplexed but willing, Lapis followed the instructions. Soon after, Amethyst lightly tossed a fry into the air and right onto the blue gem’s tongue. Peridot and Lapis were both suitably impressed.

“Whoa, nice aim!” Lapis said.

“Oh please,” Pearl interjected, “one fry is nothing. Keep your mouth open, she’ll land about a dozen before she misses a single one.”

Lapis kept her mouth open and nodded for Amethyst to continue, and one by one, fries landed expertly in her mouth. She got to about eight before Lapis stopped to chew and swallow.

“Ok… So first off, you were right and these do taste pretty good. Second, that was so cool! I don’t think I could aim that well.”

“I can!” Peridot exclaimed, eager to show off as well, “check this out!”

She thrust one of her hands upward, channeling her powers into the metal pizza pan. The pan and the hot pizza that was sitting on top of it both flipped right into Amethyst’s face, leaving the petite gem a greasy, cheesy mess. Peridot and Lapis both looked on in horror at the veritable disaster that occurred before them, and at the Amethyst-shaped silhouette of tomato sauce on the wall beyond her.

Pearl stared at Amethyst for a few seconds.

Then at Lapis and Peridot.

Back to Amethyst.

Suddenly, no sound was escaping Pearl’s mouth. She was laughing too hard to breathe. Soon after, Amethyst had emerged from her face’s mozzarella-flavored prison, having eaten her way free. She seemed pretty unaffected by what had just happened.

“Wow, Perodactyl. I’ve never eaten a pizza from the inside out before. It’s like a whole new food, good lookin’ out!”

Pearl had just begun wheezing when a scream echoed through the kitchen. The patriarch of the Pizza family had just witnessed everything, and was almost breathing smoke out of his nose. A string of expletives erupted from his mouth as Amethyst grabbed everyone with a shapeshifted third arm and _sprinted_ out the door.

Peridot and Lapis were screaming while Pearl and Amethyst were both guffawing. The purple gem ran out of energy near the beach house and everyone collapsed onto the sand.

“Oh man…” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “That was hilarious, you guys are great.”

Pearl sat up immediately. “Oh I agree! We should do this again. Maybe not the same restaurant, though, something tells me we’re all banned from Fish Stew Pizza yet again.”

Peridot and Lapis side eyed each other and then gazed back at the other two gems. “You’re uh… Not mad?” The green one asked.

“Mad?” Amethyst shot back, almost confused. “Get real, Peri, I’ve made bigger messes on purpose. Heck, that’s part of the reason we like ya so much, we just never know what we’re gonna get.”

Peridot felt a cool hand on her shoulder. Lapis pulled her closer. “Definitely,” the blue gem said, smiling for the first time since they left the pizza place. Peridot blushed.

“Well… Alright! First date as a quadrouple was a certified success!”

Amethyst grabbed two small green hands and pulled Peridot up to her feet. Pearl did the same for Lapis. But neither let go. They all just stood there, gazing into the eyes of their equal-heighted dates with romantic looks on their faces.

They all stood like that for several moments before Lapis stammered out a question.

“S-so, uh… That was a lot of uhm. Lot of f-fun! Do you two maybe wanna… Y’know, do it again sometime?”

Amethyst chuckled and Pearl giggled, leading blushes on both Peridot and Lapis’ faces to deepen in color. The older Crystal Gems both replied at the same time with the same deep, husky tone.

“Definitely.”


	31. New Powers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For my secret santa I got Echo!
> 
> This is a gem!Connie fic where a Turquoise finds a way to pass on her gem to Connie post-SUF. She's had it for a while and she and Steven fuse for the first time!

Connie’s gem was barely the size of a quarter, embedded comfortably in her solar plexus, and invisible under her shirt unless it was glowing. It liked to glow a lot, because it liked to use magic a lot. And, despite it’s small size, it weighed heavy on her chest every time she remembered that it had been someone else’s, once, for millions of years. Her gem had been old when the first creatures to be called homo sapiens were born. Her gem had traveled the galaxy, the last surviving turquoise, through cleverness and intrigue.

So it was amazing how stupidly useless it was most of the time.

Connie laid on Steven’s couch, exhausted, as her gem cycled through a rainbow of colors for her hair. She had been woken up this morning by the loud crash of Amethyst dropping an armful of glasses, and her gem had decided the appropriate response to being startled was continuous chromatic shifting. It had taken two hours to get her skin settled into the proper shade of brown, which involved a lot of growling into a mirror and staring at pictures of herself on her phone. She was too tired to finish the hair, now. She could only hope that once she managed to relax it would go back to the right color.

“Still trying out hair dye, huh?” Steven giggled.

She groaned. “Just let me die.”

“Judging by your shapeshifting talent, that feels _pretty _unlikely anytime soon.” He grinned and held out his hand. “I’ve got something to cheer you up, if you want to.”

Connie stared at his hand for a minute, then gasped as she realized the offer. “Really? You want to try?”

“Of course I do! I was waiting for you to be ready. With all the going invisible and voice changes and body changes… I figured you’d want to wait until you were more comfortable.” His grin softened into a warm smile, and he knelt beside the couch. He held up a lock of her hair, which had settled back to its normal dark color. She giggled, grabbing handfuls of her hair to stare at. Of course Steven would make her feel like herself. He continued, “I miss being them. Gem or no gem, you’re still Connie. I want to fuse with you.”

“It’s not weird that I’m kinda wearing a corpse?” she asked nervously, hand lingering over her gem.

He lifted his shirt with a flat look. “Mine is _also _pre-owned.”

She giggled nervously. “Oh. Duh. Oops.”

They took each other’s hands and spun, twirling as their forms merged into one mostly unchanged Stevonnie. Stevonnie never seemed to change much, no matter how their human components grew and changed. They were who they were. They looked down at themself with a little pout, though, because they had hoped that two gems would be some kind of significant change. They lifted their shirt up to their bra to get a look at Connie’s gem nestled above Steven’s - much too high to see without being inappropriate for most humans.

“Boo,” they muttered. “I wanted to show off both.”

But that was fine. They would cope. Their shirt dropped back down as they continued. Honestly, as they did their self-evaluation they didn’t look any different. Didn’t feel very different. They focused in on Connie’s gem, a quiet ember compared to Steven’s raging inferno. Words like _low energy_ and _low power_ had been tossed around before to refer to the turquoise, but comparing the two side by side was staggering. A running faucet to a flood. A sprout to a redwood. A chilly spring morning to the deadliest blizzard.

There was confusion and doubt and a little bit of pain, so Stevonnie moved past that to focus on the way the gems interacted. Something was different in them, not in a bad way, but in the way paint mixed into a gradient, things bleeding into strange colors. The difference finally clicked. Steven’s magic was influenced by Connie’s and vice versa, making something new. That was how fusions normally worked, with all kinds of exciting new powers and weapons. The fun part was figuring out what those things were.

They summoned their shield, excited for a change, but aside from the faint seafoam tinge around the edge, it looked the same as before. They scowled at it and paced. A little touch of blue wasn’t exactly the normal, thrilling newness of fusion. “Okay, so we’re still summoning our shield. That’s kind of weird. Maybe my gem is just too - No, don’t say that. Connie’s gem is fine. It’s wonderful. I’m getting power from both, so what does Connie’s do?”

“Hey, Vonnie!” Amethyst chirped, hopping up on the kitchen table. “It’s been a while. How are you? Did you ever get Connie to stop being all rainbow?”

“Yeah, she’s good.” They held up their shield. “Have you ever seen a fusion just have one of their components weapons? You know, aside from Steven’s human fusions?”

“Don’t think so.” Amethyst snapped her fingers. “Hey, banish that and try pulling Connie’s sword! Maybe you get two weapons! You guys have always been all sword and board, right?”

“Good idea!” Stevonnie reached for Connie’s sword - a blue-green rapier suddenly glowing in their hand where the shield had been. There was a night pink tinge around the edge, and Stevonnie squealed with delight. They tried to summon their shield at the same time, but merely replaced the sword with the board. One at a time, it seemed. That was a little disappointing. If they wanted to fight with sword and shield, they’d have to use Connie’s normal sword. Which wasn’t too annoying, Connie preferred that to her summoned weapon anyway.

Still. Disappointing. They sighed. “Can’t make one without banishing the other, I guess.”

“Hold on.” Amethyst frowned. “That’s not what I saw. The sword didn’t vanish. It changed.”

Stevonnie looked closely at their weapon, willing it back to a sword. Sure enough, the light warped and moved rather than vanishing and reappearing. They hummed, interested but not impressed. That didn’t seem to mean much of anything with utility. It was just an interesting particle effect. A cool skin. They couldn’t suppress yet another sigh. “That’s neat. I guess Connie’s powers are all about shapeshifting, and Steven’s all about change. Humans in general are kind of wobbly and changey anyway.”

“Guys! Maybe you can fuse your weapon! What would a sword and shield make?” Amethyst hummed, crossing her arms as she thought. “Maybe… A hammer? Or a stiff yoyo?”

“You want me to have Smoky’s?” Stevonnie giggled, only to be cut off by her scream. They glanced down at the sword in their hand, only to find Connie’s wild powers had acted subconsciously and swiftly yet again. They held a yoyo, now, specifically Smoky’s yoyo, stars and colors and all. Their mouth opened slightly, and Steven flicked it out and brought it back. It didn’t feel quite the same as Smoky’s, but it worked as a club on a string. They couldn’t feel any of Smoky’s other powers either. They shot out the yoyo again, and it instantly shattered a chair.

Stevonnie’s and Amethyst’s eyes met, and they said together. “Let’s go outside.”

They scrambled out onto the beach, and as they did they thought of Opal’s bow, _wanted _her weapon, and they were holding it. It was smaller, no longer than Connie’s rapier, but it was unquestionably Opal’s weapon. They drew back the string and fired, and their ammunition was green like Connie’s rapier, with none of the sparkly flare of Opal’s arrows, but it made a hole clean through a boulder when they fired. They squealed as they peered through the rock, shined a flashlight through it. That was some nice range.

They tried something new - One of Garnet’s gauntlets covered a hand. They slammed their covered fist into the boulder they’d cut a hole through, and it turned to rubble without the slightest ache on their hand. Rainbow Quartz’s umbrella was fairly useless with their floating powers and the lack of Rainbow’s magic, but it did make for an adorable look. Eyeball’s dagger twirled in their hand, small and sharp and oh so easy to finish something off with. Pearl’s spear flew out across the waves, so wonderfully throwable.

Obsidian’s burning sword glowed in their hands, so similar to the sword Bismuth had made for Connie in size and shape when they summoned it. It wasn’t hot, just glowed, but they moved through classic patterns with dizzying elation. They would always have a sword for Connie, the sword type she liked most of all. They would have a weapon type for any situation. They were half human, all mutable, all change, all newness and ingenuity. They were pure joy as the knowledge filled them, of how incredibly useful they would be.

“We can copy any weapon we’ve seen,” Stevonnie breathed in awe. “We’re so OP.”

They stopped, tears suddenly filling their eyes, and a moment later they unfused. Connie had her hand over her mouth, muffing cries. Steven was by her side in an instant, rubbing her back and whispering, “Hey, what’s wrong? That was great!”

“It was!” she laughed through her tears. “When I got my gem, when everyone said it was weak, I thought that it might drag you down when we fused, that I was weaker than before. I thought I’d make Stevonnie worse, but… We’re really in this together. I really can help you. I’m not just…”

As she wiped happy tears away, to choked up to speak any longer, Steven wrapped her up in a hug. “Never. We’re always stronger together.”


	32. The Rest Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Secret Santa for Golddragon387. 
> 
> Have a very Connverse Holiday Season, buddy!

Sunlight drifted down through the cracks in the canopy swaying in the gentle breeze. The air was thick with birdsong and the chirping of crickets. It was a veritable cacophony of everything they loved about this beautiful planet they’d saved.

So far, it had been the sort of day that was deserving of one of those aimless rides through the countryside, just the two of them. They’d just kind of set off in the Dondai without much of a plan in mind and, hours later, had wound up in a secluded rest stop somewhere along the highway, in one of those little patches of wilderness one can expect to unexpectedly come across while exploring.

They were pleased for the break and had found the little place cute and beautiful enough in which to stop and while away a good chunk of the afternoon.

She glanced across at him and was surprised to see him looking at her. The goofus, trying to hide it, pretended to be looking at something behind her - but she saw the way his eyes flickered away from her face. The way his breath caught as he did. She smiled softly, deciding to pretend not to have noticed.

They basked comfortably in their surroundings a long moment.

“I dreamed about you last night,” Connie said at last, breaking the silence between them.

They were reclining on the hood of the Dondai, leaning back against the windshield. Pearl continually warned them against such use of the car, but Greg had reassured them that this amazing vehicle was sturdy enough to handle it. So far, so good!

Steven brought his glance back to hers. It was safe now that there was a reason for it. “Oh yeah?”

She smiled. Steven loved her smile, the way it touched her eyes.

“I woke up with what _must’ve_ been the stupidest smile on my face,” she was saying.

He raised an eyebrow. “Why? What was I doing?”

“So, you were making bread-”

“As I often do,” he joked.

“Hah, but you kept putting all this weird stuff into the mixture. I was trying to get you to stop, but you kept saying-” here, she began to mimic his voice in a deeper tone, “‘No Connie, it’s _flavors!_ The _flavors,_ Connie!’”

“Weird like how?”

She placed her chin upon her hand as she flitted her eyes back to regard him, speaking normally again. “Weird like, oh, prunes. Tomato soup.”

He snorted. “What?”

Smiling, she continued. “Sushi nori.” She smiled wider. “_Whole pears._”

Steven shook his head in comic disapproval. “Connie. Sushi is its own special creature. It doesn’t belong in bread.”

“You didn’t even take out the seeds. You were all, ’It’s _flavors,_ Connie,’” she repeated with a snort in her mimicry of his voice, and they both burst into laughter.

She stopped short, however. Something troubled her about his statement; specifically, what he’d left unsaid. She was almost afraid to ask. “But, wait. What about the other ‘ingredients’?” She asked anyway.

Steven stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow. “Well…”

“Steven! No!” she exclaimed. “You don’t understand. Dream Steven is a monster. We shouldn’t encourage him!”

He grinned cheekily. “I mean, maybe Dream Steven is onto something? Who’s to say.”

This made her pause. “It wasn’t really _you_, was it?” she asked suddenly. “Y’know, using your dream powers?”

Steven lost the smile. “Oh, no! Of course not. I don’t do that anymore. At least, not without permission.”

Resting her chin on her hand, she grinned up at him. “Oh yeah? What if I gave you permission?”

Confusion set in. “Is, uh. Is this you giving me permission?”

“Who’s to say?” She teased gently.

“Well, I kind of need an explicit ‘yes’ before I just rock on up into your very personal and private dream life. You know.” He waved a casual hand around. “For, like, my own peace of mind.”

Connie appeared thoughtful for a moment and then smiled enigmatically. “I’ll think about it and let you-”

There - something, in the corner of her eye. She grabbed him by his shirt with one hand and pointed suddenly with the other. “Oh! Look,” she said, voice lowered. “Garbage panda.”

A raccoon had wandered into the clearing while they’d been talking.

Steven gasped quietly. “Trash kitty,” he whispered, enthralled by the unexpected and adorable apparition.

“Cuuute,” Connie gushed quietly.

They watched with interest as the creature sniffed around the nearby trash receptacle, but there was nothing readily available. It bounded away back into the undergrowth of the trees just as it appeared to notice them.

“I love their little noses,” said Steven when it was okay to talk normally again. “And their little hands. So like us.”

She leaned against him. “This was such a great idea. Thanks for coming out with me.”

“Thanks for convincing me!” came his reply, appreciating the feel of her against his arm as he gazed around their beautiful surroundings. “I’ve been… crazy busy lately, but it’s nice to just catch a break like this.”

“Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “It really is a relief to just down pencils and get out of dodge. Even if it’s just for an afternoon. And,” she added with a smile, “it was a stroke of genius-level brilliance to leave our phones _inside_ the car.”

“_Your_ stroke of brilliance,” he urged, nudging her gently.

A few moments of comfortable silence passed between them, during which they could only just hear the faint buzzing of one of their phones going off. A dangerous siren, beckoning for them to return to reality.

Ignoring it, they instead focused on the gently swaying canopy. Above them, the birds were going about their own busy lives.

Those feathery _fools._

Steven quietly cleared his throat after a short time. He opened his mouth to say something...

And closed it again. He knew he was already beginning to blush.

Seconds later, he tried once more. “Seems like the perfect spot, right?” he said, trying to keep the insecurity out of his voice.

“Oh yeah?” asked Connie with half closed eyes. “For what?”

“To ask if you want to be my girlfriend.”

He’d managed to say the words so casually that it took a moment for them to really register. When they did, Connie’s eyes flew open. She gasped.

“I-is this you asking me to be your girlfriend?” She asked her question in such a high-pitched voice and with such sheer earnesty that it made his heart pound. His cheeks flushed an even deeper red.

“Who’s to say?” he asked somehow, through the multiple and unabating nuclear explosions going on in his chest. He struggled desperately to remain coy, but it was no use. Whenever she looked at him like this, the poor boy melted inside. His brain shut off. His face was beet-red and getting redder - all he could think about was the time she’d kissed him, not too long ago.

“Well I kind of need an explicit-“ she’d been saying, but it was too late. Before she knew it, his lips were on her cheek.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Their eyes locked as he slowly pulled away.

“Took you long enough,” she was eventually able to say, with a wide and breathless smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DID I JUST WRITE/DRAW SOME CONNVERSE


	33. Encyclopedia Peridotica

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For my Secret Santa, I got Hadithi! 
> 
> Have a holly jolly Christmas, Hadithi!

The problem started, as roughly 27.3% of Peridot-related problems did, with Camp Pining Hearts fanfiction. 

Camp Pining Hearts was on hiatus (the other Crystal Gems had shot down her proposal to head over to the network's headquarters and demand more content on pain of death, much to Peridot's chagrin), so to pass the time and feed the oddly-sized Canadian Soap Opera hole in her heart, Peridot had ventured into the wonderful world of fanfiction.

She had been reading one of many stories in which Percy and Pierre realized their mutual compatibility and tossed Paulette to the wayside when she came across a certain word in a certain passage that left her perplexed.

* * *

**Pierre POV**

“Oh Pierre,” Percy said, the hot sun reflecting off his emrald orbs as e shied away from the glistlening muscles of his lover. “Can you still love me, knowing that I, I. he swallowed, his adams apple bulging like it was plucked from the garden of eden. “I liek being humiliated?”

I smirked,his sky-blue orbs making contact with Percys own. “Oh Percy he said. “That’s my fetish"

* * *

A... fetish? Peridot wasn’t aware what that word was. Assuming that’s what the word was even supposed to _ be _ _-_ while compelling, the work left _ much _ to be desired in terms of spelling.

Now, Peridot _ could _ go back to reading _ Of Camps and Pines_, unable to fully understand the greater context within which the story was taking place, _ or _ she could figure out what a fetish was.

The choice was obvious.

“HEY LAPIS!” Peridot shouted, hoping to catch the attention of her odd (and occasionally knowledgeable) barnmate. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT A FETISH IS?”

“A WHAT?” her response came from the roof.

“A FETISH!”

Lapis paused. “COULD YOU COME UP HERE SO WE DON’T HAVE TO YELL AT EACH OTHER?”

Peridot was more than happy to oblige, scrambling up to the loft as fast as her tiny limbs could carry her. “So, Lapis,” she said, “a fetish: do you know what it is?”

Lapis frowned. “A fetish... it sounds familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.” 

“Drat,” Peridot said. “If you don’t know it, then that means I’ll have to go looking for someone who does and that will be a whole big event!”

“Why not just google it?”

Peridot, for lack of a better term, _ hissed _ at Lapis. “Google? As _ if! _ What do I look like, an imbecile?”

It took every ounce of kindness in Lapis’ heart to not take the obvious setup and say yes. “No, but the internet is what this kind of word-searching is made for. Why not use it?”

Lapis could have _ sworn _ Peridot’s hair was pressing back onto her skull, as if she were a frightened cat and her hair was her ears. “I know better than that! Do you really want a repetition of the Urban Dictionary incident?”

Lapis paled. “Well, when you put it like that...”

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Peridot sprung back into action. “So you don’t know what it is, which means we need to find someone who _ does_.”

“So who’s well-versed in human culture?” Lapis pondered aloud. “Steven _ is _ partly human, how ‘bout him?”

But Peridot shook her head. “No, it's too risky.” At Lapis’ questioning glance, she elaborated: “The last time I asked him what something meant, Pearl screamed and tried to stab me, and Steven didn’t even know what a 'bullshit' was!”

“So then why not Pearl?” suggested Lapis. “I doubt there’s a word on Earth she doesn’t know, and if anyone can give us a precise definition off the top of their head, it’s her.” She paused. “Plus, asking her what an obscure word means? It would probably make her day. Her week, if we ask follow-up questions.”

But Peridot shot that down with a simple “Remember the aforementioned almost-stabbing?” 

Lapis nodded. “Right, we need to be _ alive _ to use this knowledge. So no Pearl or Steven, but Garnet-”

“Is far too intimidating.”

“Yes, just what I was gonna say. That leaves Amethyst, and I can’t think of any problems with her.”

“Yes, Amethyst!” Peridot said, slapping a hand to her forehead. “Amethyst is well-versed in human culture, friendly, and unlikely to attempt murder! To Amethyst!”

Peridot sauntered up to warp pad with a spring in her step, Lapis gently floating beside her; with Amethyst’s help, she could figure out what a damn “fetish” was, gain a greater understanding of human culture, and get back to reading grammatically inconsistent fanfiction!

* * *

Amethyst had not been having an exciting day. Garnet, Steven, and Connie were away for training and Pearl was out running errands, which meant four of her favorite people to bother weren’t available to provide Amethyst with entertainment. Alas, she had been forced to eat rotten food, watch DVDs of old shows, search her room for more rotten food, and force herself to not think of how Steven’s old games would taste, in that order.

Which is why it came as quite a relief when the signature noise of the warp pad reached her ears.

“Oh thank the stars,” she muttered, and then louder, “heyo, who it be?”

“Hello, Amethyst!” came Peridot’s nasally voice from below Steven bedroom, followed by the same from Lapis. 

Peridot and Lapis? Oh, that was _ great! _ If _ anyone _ could alleviate Amethyst’s boredom, it was those two. “Hey P-dot, Lappy. How ya doing?”

Peridot beamed up at her. “Good, yes, very well! Though I do require your assistance with something.”

Amethyst hopped down from the bedroom, landing next to the short, green Gem and her blue friend. “Whatchya need, P-dude? Is there some really mean mouse giving you trouble?”

Peridot rolled her eyes, but couldn’t keep herself from smiling. “Oh please,” she said. “I could, with 100% certainty, defeat a mouse in single combat.”

She paused.

“Er, how big is a mouse, again?”

Amethyst laughed heartily, leaning over and slapping Peridot on the shoulder, and Lapis chuckled along. “Come on Amethyst, I’m with her and I'm _sure_ I could take a mouse.”

“And if the mouse can swim?” Amethyst said, a grin plastered on her face.

Lapis put a hand to her chin, thinking with mock seriousness. “Well then that would complicate matters, wouldn’t it?”

Peridot nodded along earnestly. “Regardless of this enemy’s water-maneuvering capabilities, I have faith in your skill..." She paused. "Oh right, the thing!”

“The thing?” Amethyst asked. 

“The thing!” Lapis confirmed. “That thing we needed your help with!”

“Sure dudes, what is it?”

“Well, I came across a word I didn’t recognize,” Peridot said, “and I assumed you’d know it; you are incredibly knowledgeable in these sorts of matters, after all.” Peridot cleared her throat. “Amethyst, what is a-”

Fate was either on their side or actively working to cause them bodily harm, because it was that exact moment which Pearl chose to arrive on the warp pad. “Oh hello there,” she said, not picking up on the tension permeating through the room. “Lapis, Peridot, it’s great to see you! What brings you to the house?”

Peridot and Lapis shot each other a panicked look, silently asking _ what do I say _ and receiving no response. “Um, well.” Peridot bravely stepped into the spotlight, before immediately wilting the second Pearl turned to look at her. “You see, we were, umm... we don’t deserve to be stabbed!”

Pearl chuckled. “Yes, I would sure _ hope _ you don’t!” 

Peridot sighed in relief, tension flowing out of her tiny body; but then she noticed Pearl was still looking at her expectantly, as if her complete non-sequitur _ wasn’t _ a sufficient answer! Unfortunately, Lapis seemed to agree, and was using the lack of Pearl’s gaze on her to silently beg Peridot to continue, flailing her arms about and gesturing wildly.

“Well, you see, um, in addition to our status as being undeserving of harm, we uhhh.” Amethyst’s palm was firmly planted against her face, and Lapis’ previous expression of panic had mutated into muted terror. “We, um, wanted to hang out with Amethyst!”

Two gems stared at Pearl with bated breath, awaiting her response (and one more was trying to figure out what the stars was going on). For too long, Pearl said nothing, silently holding Peridot’s gaze.

After what felt like an eternity, she shrugged and said “Okay then, I hope you all have fun.”

Relief shined in Peridot’s eyes as she let out the breath that only she was unaware she’d been holding. “Y-Yeah, we will!” she said, confidence in her deceptive abilities growing quicker than should be physically possible. In fact, having gotten away with one (1) lie, she took it upon herself to show off her apparent skill in the art of deceit. “Yes,” Peridot said as Pearl turned to leave, “I’m sure Amethyst will be able to help us analyze the incredible and complex relationship dynamics of Camp Pining Hearts’ fifth season!”

Pearl stopped in her tracks.

Ever so slowly, she turned back to Peridot.

She fixed Peridot with a withering stare, her eyes no more than slits. “Peridot... I have never _ once _ heard you say ‘Camp Pining Hearts season five’ without pretending to spit on the floor in disgust.”

Peridot gulped, feeling the heat of the (metaphorical) sun she had (metaphorically) flown straight into with such reckless abandon that even Icarus himself was judging her. “W-W-Well, you see-”

“You once spent three hours, twenty-seven minutes, and fifty-four seconds ranting about how awful it was, and that may have been the only time in my life that I was _genuinely_ _afraid of you._”

Peridot looked to Lapis for help, but her partner looked to be one loud noise away from flying away as fast as her watery wings would take her.

“And moreover, the relationship dynamics in that season are your most frequent complaint, which I _ know _ because you once sent me a twelve-page essay to go over! Not to mention how you expected me to provide a detailed critique of it, left it wrought with misspellings and grammatical errors, and _ still _ haven’t changed that you’re to a your!”

Peridot at least had the decency to look apologetic about that last one. “Well... okay, yes, you are entirely correct, but if, if I m-may, I don’t understand how this relates to the topic at hand?”

Pearl took a step towards Peridot, looming over the smaller gem, and Peridot took a step back, hands already raised in surrender. “This relates, Peridot, because I cannot _ possibly _ conceive of a world where you would want _ anyone _ to analyze the well-trodden subject of season five’s relationship dynamics as a fun pastime, much less one where you call those dynamics interesting!”

If Peridot were in possession of sweat glands, she would surely be using them to their fullest extent. (Lapis, meanwhile, had shapeshifted some just for the occasion. It had only seemed right.) “I, er, had a change of heart?”

Pearl (and Amethyst, who had picked up a soda and a bag of popcorn at some point and was helping herself) scoffed. “Is that so?” Quick as a whip, Pearl pulled out her phone and aimed it at the panicking green gem. “In that case, you wouldn’t mind explaining _ exactly _how much you love it? I’m sure the long-suffering show-writers would _ love _ to hear something positive for a change.”

Technically speaking, Peridot knew it was impossible for her to hide behind thin air, but that didn’t stop her from trying. “Well, umm, I really liked how Percy... er... I liked Pierre’s... Paulette was-”

“What Peridot’s trying to say,” Lapis interrupted, all but shoving Peridot away from Pearl’s gaze, “Is that after a few dozen rewatches, season five really grew on us, just like how the camp grew a moss monster named Jeff who turned out to be-”

“No!” Peridot screeched. “I can’t do it! I can’t keep living this lie!” Shaking, she turned to Pearl. “Pearl, I _ lied! _ I still hate season five, of _ course _I hate season five, it makes actual bags of burning garbage bags want to eject the contents of their non-existent stomachs! I only said that to cover up our actual reasons for coming here!”

Pearl smirked, gazing triumphantly over her cowed opponent in this battle of wits. “Ahaha, just as I suspected! And what, pray tell, were your _ real _ reasons for journeying to our abode?”

Behind them, Amethyst was trying not a laugh as she took another sip of soda.

Without a word, Peridot looked towards Lapis, asking an unspoken question. _ Together? _ In lieu of a vocal response, Lapis grabbed Peridot's hand, their fingers intertwining. _ Together. _Peridot took a deep breath, maybe the last she would ever take before Pearl cut her down where she stood. “Pearl,” she said, “Lapis and I came here so that we could find out what a fetish is.”

Without warning, Amethyst spit her drink all over the others, who were honestly too busy being dramatic to notice.

For a second, Pearl stared at them in silence.

Then she laughed. 

“A, a _ fetish? _ You came all the way here to try to find out what a _ fetish _ is?” She shook her head with a chuckle. “And why on earth did you try to hide that from me?”

Peridot and Lapis shared a gaze that was as confused as it was relieved. “W-Well,” Lapis said, “remember how you tried to stab us when we asked what a- what a you-know-what is?”

“I wasn’t going to _ stab _ you!” Pearl protested. “...well, _ probably_. Besides, a fetish isn’t anything _ inappropriate. _ It’s just an inanimate object that’s worshiped for its supposed magical powers!”

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone processed this, and then, “I see!” “huh, kinda underwhelming,” and “Pearl, what the _ shit _?”

“Amethyst, mind your language!” Pearl said. “I know Steven isn’t here, but still!”

“Pearl,” Amethyst said. “What the _ shit__?"_

Pearl sighed and rubbed her gem. “I’m very sorry about Amethyst, she’s just... like this... Anyway, was that all you needed?”

“Yep!” said Peridot. “Thank you very much Pearl, for the information as well as the, um, not stabbing us.” Before Pearl (much less Amethyst) could say goodbye, Peridot was dragging Lapis to the warp pad and muttering “Would a laptop be considered a fetish, then? One could argue that it is worshiped.. oh, I _ must _ inform Steven and Connie of this!”

Lapis waved goodbye as she was pulled through the warp pad, and then there was just Pearl and Amethyst.

“Well, that was odd,” Pearl said. “Really, a fetish? Peridot must have gotten her hands on some anthropology books.”

“Pearl, that’s- that’s not what a fetish is.”

Pearl scoffed. “Amethyst, what on earth do you mean? A fetish is, and always has been, an object worshiped because of magical powers! There aren’t many gem fetishes, but there are _ plenty _ of human fetishes! Heck, I’m pretty sure at least one fetish is _ me _, or at least a sculpture of me!”

Amethyst was lucky she had stopped sipping her drink back when Peridot first posed her question, because she _ would _ have choked upon hearing Pearl call _ herself _ a fetish. “Look, P,” she said. “Ya know how words change? Like how ‘lit’ doesn’t mean something’s on fire anymore? Well, nowadays, a fetish is...”

After taking a moment to ensure that no prying eyes or ears could hear what she was about to say, Amethyst got up on her toes, tugged Pearl’s head down, and whispered exactly what a fetish was. “Oh,” Pearl said, a luminescent blush spreading across her face. “Oh _ my_. Oh my _ stars! _”

“Yyyyyyyyup.”

“And I told them-”

“Yup.”

“So now they think-”

“_Yup._”

“Oh _ dear_.”

Pearl shot a horrified glance at warp pad. “Do you think we should... go help them?”

Amethyst, for her part, seemed to seriously consider the idea for a few seconds before saying “nah, it’s better this way. And by better, I mean funnier. For us. Well, for me. It’s funnier for me.”

Amethyst was indeed right, through Pearl would be loath to admit it; when Connie warped in a few minutes later, pointed at them, and screamed wordlessly, it _ was _ pretty funny.


	34. Coming Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Secret Santa gift for GSKashmir!
> 
> Merpy Holimas from all of me here at Golddragon387!

Five thousand years ago, in a war where many gems created ageless met their end, Pearl stood alone. A terrible, vivid, piercing light, and the hint of a song, all thrown aside by a shield. Thrown aside from her, and Rose, and Garnet- and nobody else. Turned aside from  _ her _ , but comrades- friends- everyone else was gone. 

The smoldering wreckage of the gem-encrusted battlefield would have been soundless but for the crackle of a few fires, now that the three remaining crystal gems had separated, looking for other survivors. Pearl, falling to her knees, saw gemstones she recognized. Some had weapons beside them- physical weapons, Bismuth’s, probably- she’d be gone. The ground had been rent asunder before her, hunks of Earth torn skyward, and in the gaps below, more gemstones- an idea sent a shiver of hope through her, briefly-  _ Had the islands... no _ . All gone. 

Alone on the abandoned battlefield, tears ran down Pearl’s face as the weight of what they’d done- of what she’d started, for the love of Rose Quartz- caught up to her. The sobs rang out clearly over the wounded landscape around her, but so much more of the battlefield was dead silent. Small wonder she kept coming back here, later.

* * *

Miles away and a thousand years later, down a short hallway in a massive canyon complex, light pierced the cliffside from within. A burgundy silhouette briefly shone just above the base of the canyon, before the last gem created on Earth stepped out. Her form was segmented and lacking in detail, like a purple doll. Amethyst stood alone.

Being alone was wrong, but she didn’t feel bad about that, of course- she’d just been made, after all. She was short, and that was wrong, but nobody told her so, so she didn’t feel bad about that. She didn’t know what she was made for, and that was wrong, but she didn’t feel bad about that either. She didn’t have any preconceptions about herself or her place in the universe, which was wrong. Or it would have been wrong if someone had told her, but nobody did, so she was just herself. Just Amethyst, standing in the silence of a centuries-abandoned kindergarten.

She would come to feel bad about the loneliness first, inventing companions from the geography before being found, taught, raised, and abandoned by Rose Quartz. The distaste for herself and her point of origin would come later, and then the hatred for her smaller form and unknown purpose last of all. Small wonder she kept coming back here, later.

* * *

Rose Quartz was gone. She’d won her pyrrhic victory in the rebellion for Earth (at the cost of all but two of her friends (three if you split Garnet. Few would, and Rose wasn’t among them). She’d chosen to capture and contain the corrupted gems, to keep fighting for those who’d put her faith in her, whom she’d loved as allies and friends and comrades-in-arms and then had ripped from her by the Diamonds, like so many broken  Pearls toys. She loved them, Crystal and Homeworld gem alike, and she strove to heal them despite the odds against her.  How could she heal them, alone? She had loved most of all her three companions, the two old friends and the Amethyst they’d trained and brought up together. She had loved them like mother and commander and romancer, and yet she was still gone.

They hadn’t been back to see Steven since the incident with Greg’s van.

Pearl had broken down right then and there, in the back of the van as they returned to Vidalia’s. She had really tried to manage her grief, but as far as damming up emotions goes, denial might as well be a sieve for a reservoir of mourning. She’d cried in her room for days after, and occasionally a wail of denial would leak into the rest of the temple.  _ She can’t just be  _ gone _ , why can’t I understand? _

Pearl hadn’t understood why, was the problem. She knew full well that Rose was gone.

Garnet had been more reserved, as they returned to the temple. She’d started crying softly before they got there (Pearl hadn’t stopped, just walked wordlessly into her room with steady rivulets running past her downturned mouth), and when Amethyst asked her why, she waved her visor away to say, “I can’t see it. Nothing we could try would bring her back. I’ve looked so far... I...” She wiped her eyes and put her visor back with a shimmer. “... I’ve looked far ahead. Nothing. She’s gone.” And that had been the end of it, at least where the others could see.

The visor came off less. She held herself back more. She had to be the leader, now that Rose was gone.

Amethyst had lasted the longest of all. Different people can weather the same storm in different ways, and gems were the same. She’d hated being around the temple when Pearl was upset about Greg, or fawning over Rose, so she did what she’d done then- she went back to the hole she was made in. She’d cried a little bit then, of course, but that hadn’t been the worst of it. That came later, when Amethyst had seen a cool human thing, or thought of a funny joke, or found a fun new thing to shapeshift into (babies weren’t as fun as she’d thought). Really when she tried any of the other old things she used to do for fun, and went to tell Rose about it (she’d smile, she’d enjoy hearing about your day and any of the wonders of Earth it involved), that was when things got bad for her, and her gem ached, and her form quivered, and so swiftly the tears came.

Because Rose was gone.

* * *

She hadn’t meant to run from Pearl that evening, and probably wouldn’t have, if they hadn’t just returned from a late-night mission. It had just  _ happened _ , after Pearl had mocked her latest shapeshift  _ again _ and then Garnet had  _ agreed _ and Amethyst should have said something but she  _ couldn’t _ because of course they were  _ right _ so she just  _ ran _ .

(Emotions cloud memories so much. Pearl had told her before how much of a waste of energy shapeshifting that often was. She did so again, hoping it would finally sink in. Garnet had merely nodded. She hadn’t known about how excited Amethyst had been to show this off- how could she have, it had been  _ Rose _ , before. It wasn’t the first time she’d show off to them like this. Just the first time Garnet had nodded at Pearl’s words. None of them would remember this incident the same way, really, and they’d all been there.)

They’d been between her and the warp pad- she couldn’t get to her room in the temple  _ or _ out to her hole. She ran out along the beach until she couldn’t see for the tears in her eyes. She tripped, rolled, and landed with her back against one of Obsidian’s fallen stone hands as she choked on the same pain as the last time. Amethyst curled up against it in the sand, making herself small, as sob after sob shuddered through her, longing for something softer to hold onto. Someone to hold her. Rose.

She didn’t get Rose. She got Pearl. 

“Garnet, why must it be me?” Pearl had asked.

“You set her off. You will apologise first,” their new leader had answered, before turning to leave. Garnet hadn’t foreseen anything good in most of  _ her _ conversations with Amethyst. Pearl’s had better odds, even if she didn’t know what they’d involve.

So the bitter thoughts dripped like venom from Pearl’s mouth as she muttered her way across the beach. Amethyst wasn’t hard to find even then, though the downpour of weeping and shuddering had faded mostly to misty eyes and a dull ache in the core of her gem. Still, she didn’t hear Pearl approach. Amethyst’s back was to the stone, and her hair in her eyes, and she had wrapped her arms around herself just to grab at something.

Pearl knelt down beside her. Whatever indignities she’d had for Amethyst fell apart at the sight of her. 

Amethyst gasped as a hand reached into her hair, ruffling it up like Rose used to, and foolish hope burned in her gem before reality snuffed that light, too. That hand was too small, too thin, and too hesitant, not familiar and comforting. She didn’t see Pearl, but when she spoke, Amethyst sure heard her. Pearl’s voice sounded fragile as porcelain.

“Amethyst, I... am sorry, I didn’t mean- I shouldn’t have said that you-”

Her head whipped up, hair flying about as one eye glared at Pearl from under her bangs, a glowering that dared Pearl to repeat her earlier words.

“... What I mean is, Garnet and I know you can shapeshift. You’re better at it than either of us...” Pearl trailed off. Things went unsaid, but Amethyst’s eyes were both covered again. They both knew Pearl didn’t shapeshift much at all, and Garnet took no pleasure in it.

Amethyst finally responded to her. “It was just something new I wanted t’ try out.”

Something clicked in Pearl’s mind, like two very neat puzzle pieces fitting together with all the suddenness of a sunrise. Rose had enjoyed shapeshifting, sometimes, but more often she admired novelties.

“...Did you ask Rose to... ‘try out’ things with you? New shapes?” There was a tinge of softness to her voice, now, as the ghost of a wistful smile passed over her face.

Amethyst sat up, still hugging her knees to her chest. She nodded, a little bit, but Pearl’s eyes fell to amethyst’s quivering jaw, just below the new tears beginning the crawl down her face.

Pearl laid a hand on Amethyst’s shoulder, and nodded for her to continue.

“Whenever I’d found some new Earth thing, some human thing, I’d show R- Ro- her,” Amethyst’s voice wobbled. “She loved it! She wanted to know how eh- everything worked... and I’d- I’d show her, and she’d always laugh and ask questions and...” Amethyst’s voice caught. Pearl was looking at her with a depth to her eyes like she’d seen a ghost. Amethyst finished through the tears, almost whispering, “and when I shifted back to normal, every time she’d say ‘I think you’re perfect the way you are.’”

And maybe that set Pearl crying, too, but that was fine. They were together, now, on the same page and hurting from the same loss. So Pearl gave her best effort at a comforting embrace, and Amethyst held onto her tight enough neither of them could breathe (not that they needed to), and they spoke for a few moments under the moonlight about happier things. Things that had made Rose happy, and how happy that had made them feel. Things they’d done to replace the old things, since she was gone now, and they had to make their own happiness, and that was harder. They acknowledged their stress, their grief, and the need to pick up the pieces of what was left to them.

They worked on healing, just a little bit, and moving towards acceptance of what was gone. It had been hard enough, independently. Maybe it would be easier together.

Amethyst was the first to stand. She'd been crying for a while longer, after all. She offered Pearl her hand, which was accepted, and the words "let's go back," which set the two walking towards the temple. Small wonder, after thousands of years, that they kept coming back there, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's that, Kash! I hope you like the Pearlmethyst H/C, and that the Angst had enough of a Happy Ending for you!


	35. Birds of a Feather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My Secret Santa drabble for loveluckylost. I hope I included things you like! Merry Christmas.
> 
> Connie feels very alone after a change in her life. Lars can relate.

Connie didn’t belong.

Once upon a time she had been a girl who didn’t belong because she was never anywhere long enough to try. Then a boy had come into her life, and he had dragged her up into his world, a world so full of magic and wonder that she could never have belonged to it. 

She tried. She honed herself, changed herself, but there was always a barrier she couldn’t pass. Limits she couldn’t reach. Knowledge she couldn’t grasp. She was too human. She played a part, but she never felt she fit. And then time passed, and the very skills she had honed, the lessons she’d learned and muscles she’d trained, they all became meaningless. Steven never wanted his world to be about fighting. Day by day, he made battle less appealing to those he could affect. Less of an option. Until, eventually, she couldn’t pretend she even belonged on the outskirts. She had become a warrior without a war. The only gateway that might have given her a sense of belonging  _ someday _ suddenly slammed shut.

She’d been working on reinventing herself when she died.

The exact method by which she died wasn’t important. It was tragic and sudden and much too soon. What  _ was _ important is that Steven was around. And Steven did not have to let a needless death stand. Her ending was erased. She was allowed to continue again, to keep trying to find a place to belong. But this time it was even harder, because she could no longer go back. She wasn’t aging, she had strange new powers, she had a portal in her hair. She was very pink and very obviously magic. She already hadn’t fit right with humans before. Fitting  _ now _ was practically impossible. She could barely even muster the energy to try.

She felt like a ghost in Beach City, haunting her own life, waiting for the world to change into something she could belong to.

“Connie?”

She jolted from her daze, finding the only other person like her giving her a concerned look. “Oh. Lars.” She relaxed, taking a sip of her long-cold tea. “Sorry. Do I need to leave?”

“No, no. You’ve just been staring out the window for a while.” He leaned on the chair at the table next to her. “I got worried.”

“How long? What time is it?” She blinked. No one ever needed her these days. It was easy to lose track.

“Something like three hours. I’m closing up in an hour. Something on your mind?”

“Not really.” She sighed.

“Alright. Try again, but don’t bullshit me this time.” He sat down with her, putting his feet up on the table.

She raised an eyebrow. “You sure the owner would like you doing that?”

“Go ahead and report me if you want.” He smirked, but it didn’t reach past his mouth. “Connie. Seriously.”

She grimaced. “You’re really not letting this go?”

“I can’t stop you if you leave. But you’re never further away than Lion, and I know where he is.” Lars didn’t mention how many times he’d caught her locked in her head like this, but she knew this wasn’t the first. He sighed. “Come on. Don’t make me say please, you know that’s not my style.”

“I’d think it’s obvious.” Connie drummed her fingers on the table, trying not to frown. “I don’t fit anywhere. I’m just trying to get along.”

“What about the gems? Steven?” He frowned. “You still help them, don’tcha?”

“They never need me. Steven’s always talking problems out. And I’m still just a human to most of them. There’s nothing gems need to learn that I could teach, and it’s only once in a blue moon that there’s something to fight.” She sighed. “I don’t even carry my sword around anymore. It’s in my hair if I need it, but I never do. I barely even train. Pearl’s so busy.”

“So whaddaya even do these days?”

She rolled her eyes and gestured around. “Lars, if I had any kind of schedule, do you think I could stare out the window of a pastry shop for three hours on a Tuesday?” She slumped onto the table, staring at her cold cup of tea. “I date Steven sometimes, when I feel up to it and he’s got time. Do some odd jobs. I live in Little Homeworld since nobody charges me rent there and, well, it’s not like we need food or water or comfortable living space. I just need a place for some stuff.”

“That sounds depressing.” He said it flippantly, but she could see actual concern in his eyes, no matter how hard he tried not to show it.

“Doesn’t it, though?” She stood up, brushing her bright pink hair back off of her shoulders. “I’ll get out of your hair. And I don’t wanna see you coming out of mine, got it?” She gave him a stern look.

He smirked again. “Just cause I look like a teenager and you look like an adult doesn’t mean I’m not older than you, Connster. I don’t have to listen to you.”

She huffed, but still remembered to be polite. “Thanks for the tea and scone. They were great.” She tossed the half-empty cup in the trash on her way out. “I’ll see you around, Lars.”

“See you.” Lars watched the door close, and his head slumped to his chest. “Come on… not your business… you don’t have to get involved…” He groaned. “But I do, don’t I? I’ve gotta.”

He jumped over the counter and started taking inventory. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he’d know it when he saw it. He just needed a good excuse for a trip.

* * *

Connie didn’t see Lars again for two days. The first one she spent in her Little Homeworld “studio apartment” which was an exceedingly generous description of what was essentially a one-room shack that had power and internet courtesy of Peridot. She watched some anime and spent a few hours trashing them in Strife servers. An inglorious existence, but she didn’t have anything better to do.

She was in the middle of a very deep mope when someone knocked on her door. Then, before she could even stand, the door was thrown open. She was halfway into a combat stance, hand already reaching into her hair for a weapon, when Lars walked in, full space-pirate outfit on display. “Connie. Get your stuff ready. We’re leaving.”

“Lars, what the heck?” The glow from her hair faded as she withdrew her hand. “Why are we leaving? Where are we going? And why shouldn’t I kick you out of my house?”

“We’re going on a trip.” He smirked and crossed his arms, striking a confident pose. It went well with the cape. “We’re going to barely-charted wild areas of space, and if you’re not interested then you’re lying. You should be packing.”

He was right. Connie couldn’t help showing interest. “All my stuff I’d take anywhere is in my hair anyway.” She put a hand on her hip. “So… wild space? For what?”

“I have things I need.” He looked nonchalantly at his nails, and she knew he was doing it to seem aloof and mysterious, but damned if it didn’t work. “And my crew is a man down. Rhodonite’s taken a job helping other off-colors adapt to life at Little Homeschool. Which is great for her, but it means I need a new strategic advisor. And you’ve got a pretty good head for combat, don’tcha?”

“You know I do.” She frowned. “Lars… why?”

He sighed. The space pirate veneer fell away, leaving Lars behind. “Connie. Look. I know how it feels. You feel weird. Nobody gets you. It’s like how teenagers feel all the time, but it’s actually true and it’s forever. You and me, we’re not like people and we’re not like gems. And it was a struggle to try and adapt. I still feel  _ wrong  _ a lot of the time.” He took a step towards her, and in her tiny home that was enough to put a hand on her shoulder. “But… having people who understand that, it helps. So come on.” He raised a hand and clicked his fingers. A portal warped into being near them, bathing her apartment in pink light. “Come try with me. One trip. You won’t regret it.”

She hesitated. “I should… I should tell people. I can’t just run off.”

“I already texted Steven about it for you. He thinks it might help you, too. He’ll tell everybody else. What’s wrong? Schedule suddenly fill up?” He grinned. “Tons of people waiting to see you? Or do you just have more Blade Skill Online to bitch about on the internet?”

She flushed as she glanced at the disc case next to her computer. “I think it’ll wait.”

“Then come on!” He grabbed her hand and leapt, dragging her with a squeal into warp space.

It was a short warp, just a moment in the glowing tunnel of light before they were deposited back down onto a grassy hill. “Got her!”

Connie stumbled. She was used to jumping through her own warps, not being dragged along. She shook her head and caught sight of the sharp angles of the Sun Incinerator with the doors open and the crew waiting inside.

“Good… to see you… Connie.” Fluorite smiled wide.

“Hey there, Connie,” one of the Rutile twins began with a wave.

“Long time no see!” the other completed.

Captain Lars went to stand with his crew, facing her from within the ship. “I know you don’t fit in, Connie. Well, neither do we. So come on. You wanna be an Off Color?”

Connie swallowed something thick and wet and wiped tears from her eyes. Her voice came out watery. “I’d like that a lot.”

“I predict that Connie will join the crew, and we will be glad to have her!” Padparadsha welcomed in her own cheery way. “I’ll have so many things to teach you around the ship! I’m sure you’ll make a fantastic addition to the team.”

“Well? Come on aboard.” Lars beckoned with a smirk. “You’ve got a lot to learn, strategic officer Maheswaran.”

Connie grinned and jogged onto the ship, throwing up a quick salute that was only the tiniest bit mocking. “Aye aye, captain. I’ll need a mission briefing, though. What’s the purpose of this sojourn?”

Lars laughed as the ship doors closed behind them. “When I say my pastries are out of this world, I don’t just mean they’re good. You ever had a zigura fruit fresh off the pillar? Or ten-drop spice from the moons of Zeta Gamma XV?”

She almost stopped short. “Wait. We’re going out for fruit and spices?” She looked at the other Off Colors, all headed to their posts. “Is that really dangerous? Lars, are you serious?” He was still laughing as he walked ahead. “Lars!”

He kept laughing all the way out of the solar system.


	36. Happily Ever After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first fic for this collection, and I thought I'd start with some nice fluff-OOPS ALL ANGST.
> 
> Prompt: Pearlmethyst

** Happily Ever After **

Everyone was supposed to live happily ever after.

Amethyst had had a few relationships - she’d always been an open sort. She could love Peridot and Pearl at the same time, and spare time for Sadie and Vidalia and whatever. But Pearl was special - it was an old relationship, older than any human. She wasn’t just Pearl’s lover, she wasn’t just Pearl’s friend, she was an appendage of the older gem. They were partners in battle, partners in raising Steven and ultimately partners in romance. They’d even put a ring on it. And sure, she’d put a ring on Peri too, but it had been Pearl first. That had felt right.

And everyone had followed. Steven and Connie were married, and Lapis and Bismuth had their relationship, and even Jasper and that curly-haired Lapis had their thing. Fusions came and went as seasons passed - some years Opal and Stevonnie would be a going concern, some years Ruby and Sapphire would take a break to kiss all the time, it was basically musical chairs. But she could always count on the stable bedrock that Pearl provided; the gentle kisses that nobody could emulate.

It was supposed to be happily ever after.

They hadn’t expected an irate, dissident Hessonite to drop an asteroid on them.

It was almost refreshing. She wasn’t trying to resurrect the Diamonds; she was carving out her own empire, where all gems equally stamped out organic life. She’d put up the biggest fight they’d had in millenia, mainly because of her enormous Agate fusion guards. By the time the battle was over and Stevonnie had bubbled the Hessonite general, Beach City and Little Homeworld were terribly battered.

The Beach House could be rebuilt, of course. Ruby and Sapphire and Bismuth would reform in time. Their happily ever afters would continue, once the scars had healed.

The town would rebuild. The newest generations of the Pizzas and the Frymans and the Deweys would restart their businesses, and they sigh and moan when Sadie and Lars wandered over and explained what it was like in the second millenium and whatever.

Little Homeworld would rebuild, once Mayor Bismuth reformed and started planning the new buildings. Lapis’ little house hadn’t even been damaged. Lucky her.

It could all be brought back.

Except not all.

She remembered the morning, when the ship was bearing down on them, and Pearl was going over the battle strategy with ‘Vonnie and Garnet and Bismuth. She remembered the way she turned to her before they went into the fray.

“Amethyst, you’ll go with Stevonnie,” she said. “I’ll stay over here and handle the Agates.”

“Aw, c’mon P, I wanna fight with you!”

Pearl smiled.

“You’ll see me when it’s done,” she said cockily, “And I’ll _more_ than make up for it.”

“I love ya, Pearl,” Amethyst replied, winking.

Pearl snorted.

“Good to know.”

She did find her, after the battle. Now she sat with her on the steps to the Beach House, looking over the endless sea, a hundred thousand unspoken words in her head. Things she’d wanted to say but put off for a rainy day, or assumed she could just get around to in a century or so. Stupid things, deep things, loving things.

She supposed she can still say them. But what good would it be?

One more, she opened her palms, and tortured herself with another gaze at the tiny, dusty white shards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just use duct tape and wd-40 amethyst


	37. A Messy Relationship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl sorts out complicated feelings about dating Amethyst.
> 
> Prompt: Pearlmethyst

Pearl couldn’t really say when she and Amethyst started dating. Dating was an odd enough concept between gems that it was hard to define - after all, crossgem fusion had been forbidden, and Homeworld was quite insistent on things staying business focused. They fumbled through it in a more human way, but even that was a complicated thing. Pearl wasn’t _only_ dating Amethyst, and wasn’t eager to change that anytime soon. But, at some point, the quiet moments between them became romantic and called it so. They kissed under the stars, simply enjoying how friendship had flowered into something new. Everything was soft and sweet and lovely.

And then Steven’s teasing voice came from behind them, still so odd now that it had changed and deepened, “Hey, you two. Am I interrupting something?”

Pearl stiffened and Amethyst leaned back with a snicker. “Get out of here, dude. Don’t be a creep.”

“But you’re _cuuuuuute_.” He giggled. “Are you gonna get married?”

“I’m gonna shapeshift my clothes off,” Amethyst threatened. “You wanna see what kind of naked body I can come up with? It can get real weird.”

“You’re so gross!” he snickered, but he left them alone.

Pearl was grateful for him leaving, grateful for Amethyst’s lighthearted teasing that got him to run off, but the moment was quite tarnished. Romance still wasn’t coming effortlessly after all this time. She didn’t appreciate having it fall apart. She didn’t appreciate losing her perfect romantic moment to a wild sixteen year old who suddenly seemed to find the _implications_ of romance hilarious. Pearl heaved a heavy sigh, trying to just be content with being close to her girlfriend. Amethyst playfully punched her shoulder, always a source of good humor. “Don’t worry, P. We’ll get it next time.”

And so they did. Amethyst could be surprisingly romantic. Not really with her words, but little actions were sweet. She brought pretty smelling candles and aromatic teas for Pearl to enjoy. She made little doodles (which, admittedly, weren’t flattering) and did her best to make Pearl feel loved and special. Pearl was much more skilled with words, and preferred poetry and love notes and intimate conversation, and it all seemed to work out quite well. Amethyst was rapidly becoming her most consistent girlfriend, and Pearl was sure the same was true for her paramour.

She was also sure she was blushing as she plucked the bouquet from the side of the weapons rack. She couldn't imagine when Amethyst had snuck in. She couldn't believe she had made the time at all. But Amethyst really was going above and beyond in this, and the white gem made a note that she should step up her game as she murmured to herself, "What a charmer. I never would have guessed. I wonder what it is about flowers that are so romantic?"

"Probably the yonic symbolism," Connie said off-handedly, grabbing a practice sword.

Pearl felt the flush on her cheeks and snapped her eyes over to her pupil. It seemed that teenagers were far too concerned with the implications of romance to appreciate the romance itself. "We're starting with line drills."

"No! I take it back!" she whined, clutching the practice sword protectively to her chest. "I think it's really sweet that you two are intimate now!"

“Go put the sword away so you can run.” Pearl closed her eyes and willed for the world to end, hearing Connie do as she was told. _Intimate_, by the stars, of all the phrases. "We are also ending with line drills."

“You can’t make me run line drills just because you’re mad at me, Mo-” Connie cut herself halfway through the word and course corrected, “Pearl.”

Her pupil often nearly said _the forbidden word _when she got snappish about being told what to do - which probably had some implications that Pearl felt it was best not to dive into. But, mistake aside, Connie was right. A romantic tryst with Amethyst was no excuse to be cruel and make her student run her least favorite exercise, but when romance was already so tricky she couldn’t find it in herself to mind much. Was it too much to ask for a clean romance without complicated messiness? Were all relationships doomed to awful fuss?

"How would you feel if I brought up yonic symbolism whenever Steven made you a flower crown?" Pearl demanded.

"I don't mind!” she chirped. “Steven and I aren't dating, so yonic symbolism doesn't mean anything when he does it. It only means something if, you know, it means something! And obviously it means something with you and Amethyst. Or not! You two are so cute together, and, you know, Steven told me how much you guys used to fight so I think it’s really amazing and sweet that you two get along so well now. I’m sure all love confessions are in the rain and you put rose pet- Er, not rose petals. Some kind of flower on each other’s pillows. And it’s just romantic and _definitely_ not yonic at all!"

Pearl raised her eyebrow at the eager speech, the brightness on Connie’s face, fascinated by the sudden shower of compliments and grasping at straws for romance. She had never seemed so keen and eager before, and certainly not interested in the intricacies of the gems’ blossoming romance. It was honestly quite sweet, until Pearl saw Connie edging back towards the sword rack and realized this was an attempt at distraction and flattery to get out of running. She tried to be angry, but could only manage a laugh. "Stars, Connie, you are the most unromantic creature."

She pouted, her hand clasped around the hilt once again. "I am not! I've read love poems. Shakespeare! I wrote a very romantic letter to Jaime once."

"Mmm, I see. Anything else to add to the list?" Pearl smiled, plucking up her own sword.

"It was a very romantic letter!" she protested. "It counted for at least a dozen romantic moments."

"And did you choose to write it all on your own? Or did someone insist the letter have to be written and wanted to borrow your vocabulary?" Pearl pressed.

Connie huffed and hefted her sword at her teacher. "I'm very romantic. I'm a prince, and I'll fight nobly for my princess's hand in marriage. I'll toss her a handkerchief!"

Pearl raised her own sword with a grin. "Which one of lived through the Middle Ages?"

She did so miss the Middle Ages. There were so many clearly indicated rules in the way one courted a lover. Nowadays, one simply went with the flow and followed their heart - which was wonderful for Amethyst but quite the hassle for the gem who alphabetized her cleaning supplies. She could only hope she was doing well enough, could only hope that the ruined romantic moments wouldn’t be enough to chase Amethyst away for someone who had a better handle on such things. Honestly, there were some days she feared she was no better than Connie at romance.

“Pearl, you dork.” Amethyst giggled and rapped her shoulder with her knuckles. “Listen, both of us know that one person doesn’t fulfill all our needs, right? That’s why you’re prowling the town for some strange-”

“Literally any other phrase would be appreciated.”

“-And I’ve got a couple of side dudes,” she finished with a grin. “Pearl, I don’t expect you to be romantic in the way I am, you know? I’ve got other people for that. I don’t drag you to concerts you’re doing to hate. I don’t make you do stuff with your body that I like and you don’t. We’re not, you know, stable right now. Everything’s changing. Romance is just kind of messy, but I like the romantic stuff we do. I love you. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

Pearl sighed, running a hand through Amethyst’s hair. “To be honest, I’m more romantic with you than anyone else. The humans I date are… it’s casual. I’m not ready to start serious things with people who live such short lives. But the commitment of a gem relationship hardly feels any better. You’re going to be around, friend or lover, no matter what. I feel like you deserve more from me. You deserve perfection, not a series of ruined moments.”

“Life’s sloppy, P,” Amethyst said with a shrug. “You just gotta roll with it.”

“Mmm,” she agreed with a sigh. “And perhaps be more overt with the yonic symbolism.”

“The what?”

Pearl laughed and leaned over, her lips brushing against Amethyst’s ear. They both were going to learn something today.


	38. Conversations With Rocks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is set before Steven joins the Crystal Gems.
> 
> Prompt: Pearlmethyst

The light lavender haze had long since dissipated into the otherwise clear air around them.

“Why do you continue to put yourself in danger like that?!” Pearl squawked at the gemstone gripped tightly in her hand. “You _know_ that I had it all under control. I always do!”

The rock itself couldn’t provide an answer and she knew it. But it was mid-battle and she was frustrated. Luckily Garnet was more than capable of keeping the monster occupied while Pearl took this brief moment on the sidelines to ensure that the diminutive quartz’s gemstone was undamaged.

Her light-composed form appeared to have taken a significant amount of damage this time. Pearl had been worried, but the fact that Amethyst’s gem was as smooth and perfect as ever put her in a state similar to that of ease. Similar, but not quite. She was still frustrated.

“Come-“

She cut herself off mid-exclamation as Amethyst’s gem lit up and began to float up and away from her hand into the air before her.

* * *

“-On!”

Pearl couldn’t believe it. Not again.

“This is getting ridiculous,” she said sternly as she made her way back to Garnet. The fight against this stronger-than-usual corrupted gem had scattered the three of them all over the landscape and it was only by luck, sheer will and the grace of her own moxy that she’d managed to keep ahold of Amethyst as they’d been flung toward the horizon.

Or, more accurately, she’d kept ahold of Amethyst’s gem.

And she was furious with the being currently regenerating inside it. “You have to stop making all these... silly little mistakes. You’re better than this - _much_ better! And you know it!”

She sunk a little as she regarded the defenseless gem of one of her few close friends in her hand. She realized it wasn’t really anger she had inside her. Whatever it was, it was softer than that.

“Listen. I keep telling you that-“

But there was no time to finish her thought. Amethyst had already begun to reform.

* * *

“So... I guess I just wanted to say-“

She swallowed awkwardly.

“_Thanks_,” she said at last, pointedly avoiding eye contact. “For, you know, saving me back there.”

After a moment, Amethyst smiled. With her free hand, she brushed her bangs out of the way of her eye to look at her. Clearing her throat, she continued. “That was really cool. Sorry you had to, you know, poof over it.”

Suddenly feeling ridiculous, she felt her cheeks go a darker shade of lavender. She lost her smile and shrugged slightly. “Or... whatever.”

Hunching forward, she gazed out over the waves. The broken statue debris down on the beach loomed dark in the low light as she sat with her legs hanging out over the edge of the warp pad in front of the Crystal Temple. Her other hand held the palm-sized white pearl of her cohort, glistening in the starlight, her fingers tense around it.

She frowned suddenly.

“Why’d you even do that, anyway? Huh? I get poofed all the time, it’s _not_ a big deal. I mean, it’s like, I come back much faster than you! Nobody misses me, not ever. I never give you a chance to!”

She huffed to herself and, in a low voice, added, “Even if I _was_ gone a long time, it’s not like I’d be missed anyway.”

The constant hiss of the ocean lapping against the shoreline was the only response on offer - the breeze ruffling her hair her only comfort. The moon was new, so the only natural light this evening was complements of the stars she knew she’d never visit.

“Aaargh, what am I saying!? Why is everything just pouring out? Why now?!”

Amethyst lapsed into silence for a long moment, her brow knitting slowly in thought as something occurred to her.

“Did you only risk yourself for me because Rose isn’t around anymore? Is that it? Do you just... need someone to save?” She hesitated. “That _can’t_ be right. Can it?”

The little oval pearl in her hand had no words to offer. Amethyst sighed and carefully placed the gem down on the surface of the warp pad next to her before leaning back onto her arms and exhaling.

“I’m not stupid,” she said into the night. “I know things have been hard for you. But - well, guess what, Pearlski - it’s been hard for me, too!” Her voice cracked a little. “I miss Rose! And I miss Garnet, you know, how she... doesn’t really talk much anymore. A-and now I miss-“

She stopped as her breath caught in her throat. “I miss _you_, Pearl.”

She groaned and pushed her free hand into her face. Her free eye regarded Pearl’s pearl sadly. “Without you, everything kind of falls apart.”

A long moment passed during which Pearl’s pearl sat there contentedly enough.

“Without you,” Amethyst said quietly, “_I_ fall apart.”

* * *

“-You _have_ to be more careful. But do you ever listen to me?”

As Pearl held the little purple gem safely in her hand, it appeared the answer to that question had once again been ‘no’. She paced upon the warp pad in the light of the waxing moon, but her exasperation had given itself to a sadness by now. It hadn’t been a monster. This time, it was merely an ill-advised encounter with some wild creature or other that had caused Amethyst to destabilize.

“You act confident, but you’re far too reckless,” she was saying. “And honestly, I’m worried. I know you’ve been a little _directionless_ since...” She held her breath a moment. “Well. You know.”

The rest of her breath slid out of her a little more raspy than she intended.

“I… feel the same,” she said at last. “Maybe it’s not confidence. Is it some kind of cover?” she asked the silent gemstone. “Is that it? Is that why-” she waved towards the stone in a vague manner, “-all of this?”

She sunk into herself somewhat. “And if I asked you, would you ever admit it?”

It was getting late. Being a gem, she wasn’t growing weary of course. But she was expecting Amethyst to reform at any moment now.

“You’re worth it, Amethyst.” Her voice was thin. “Maybe I should tell you that. I suppose I thought you already knew-”

She glanced softly down at the gemstone as, once more, it began to glow.


	39. New Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS MY FAVORITE PROMPT! AHHHHHHHHHHHb
> 
> Prompt: Pearlmethyst

The sun was setting over the Prime Kindergarten, casting long shadows that contrasted the vibrant oranges and purples that streaked through the sky, making the horizon look almost like an oil painting. Pearl had brought Amethyst here after a long and incredibly enjoyable day. She took her to Funland, the arcade, The Big Donut, the sky spire, the abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, all the places where the both of them had very fond memories.

Amethyst felt tender fingers gently rubbing the back of her hand, a small reminder of how much Pearl loved her. She thought she’d be used to it by now, but it made her heart flutter every single time.

“Amethyst,” Pearl started, “how much of this place do you truly remember?”

Using her free hand, the shorter gem grabbed her chin while she tried to think.

“Hmm… I remember poppin’ out of the ground and just, like, existing. Then, for a really long time, basically nothing.” She chuckled.

“Mm, I know I say it a lot, but we really do regret not coming here sooner. We hadn’t considered there might still be some life here…”

“Aw, P… It’s okay, really. I hardly remember most of it now. Got a lot of new memories instead.” She leaned her head onto Pearl’s arm, eliciting a small, happy titter. “Today especially, I hope it doesn’t end. I love gettin’ to make new memories with you.”

Pearl’s laughter died quickly, replaced with a long sigh. “Do you remember the first time you saw me?”

Amethyst strained, but found it very difficult to find memories of that specific moment. She was about to answer negatively before Pearl stopped them both right in front of a very specific quartz-shaped hole in the canyon.

“I saw a little pair of sad, frightened eyes, staring at me from that hole right there.” She pointed at Amethyst’s emergence hole. “Your pupils were shrunken to the size of a pinprick. I summoned my spear, and it scared you. Rose and Garnet were in another part of the canyon, so it was just me, I was prepared for anything. But you made such a heartbreaking noise… I got rid of it immediately. You couldn’t be a monster.”

Pearl’s hand squeezed a little tighter around Amethyst’s. “I got down on my knees and tried to coax you out. I talked quietly, calmly, trying to say _something_ to put you at ease, but I’m not sure you understood. I kept trying, though. Held out my hand and waited. It took a long time, but eventually, you started moving toward me. You stared right at me, and the look on your face… I knew you needed help. You cautiously took my hand, and I helped you out of the hole. I held you. I held you gently, and you started crying. You didn’t stop for hours. Garnet and Rose came to see what was happening, and they were just as surprised as I was to find you here. I lifted you up because you wouldn’t let go of me, and I carried you back to the temple. Even though the others offered to carry you, it seemed like you wanted to never let go. And truthfully… I didn’t want to let go either…”

Pearl’s eyes were watering, but she had prepared for this. She wasn’t going to stop, not when she had so much to say. Amethyst just held on tightly and listened.

“I wanted to protect you from everything. You were left behind, unwanted by those who put you there. It was cruel, and I wanted to undo every moment of loneliness you ever experienced. Time, luckily, heals all wounds. Eventually, you started coming into your own. You became more verbal, talked to us, had wants and needs, and we did our best to meet them. A common one was physical touch, and you know we were happy to oblige. Soon, you were as powerful as any of us, and the perfect new addition to our group. And after Steven came into being and changed all of our lives, I started seeing you as more than that.”

Pearl let go of Amethyst’s hand and positioned herself so they were able to stare into each other’s eyes. “You’re strong, and funny, you’re such a wonderful presence everywhere you go. You’re beautiful, inside and out. I’m absolutely sick over the fact that you were left alone for so long, but if you weren’t, then I wouldn’t ever have met you… Maybe that’s selfish, but I’m ready to make up for those 500 years you had to spend by yourself. We’ve been together for so long already, Amethyst, a-and I love you so much, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to express exactly how much. I think, however, that now… I do…”

Amethyst’s glossy eyes looked at Pearl first in confusion, and then in happy realization as the taller gem got down to one knee. She reached up in front of her forehead and pulled out a small box. She opened the box in front of Amethyst, exposing an elegant, intricately carved, silver ring. Shaking, she extended her arm out in front of Amethyst, the open box sitting on her open palm.

“What do you say to another few thousand years together...?”

Amethyst barreled into Pearl, tackling her to the ground in an incredibly tight embrace before peppering her with kisses. She had a couple ugly sobs, making her “yes” nearly impossible to understand, but Pearl understood regardless. Soon, she was having ugly sobs of her own. The two gems clung to each other tightly, desperately never wanting to let go. Their tears of joy and awe-inspiring love echoed through the canyon. The sorrow that had poisoned this place for so long had finally, _permanently_ been replaced.


	40. Hey Wait A Second-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Pearlmethyst
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one, I hope yall like it!

Amethyst would have thought becoming a full-time Little Homeschool teacher would give her more than enough entertainment, and for the most part, she would be right. But she still had free time, and enough free time meant that she was bound to get bored at some point.

Which was how Amethyst found herself watching bad romcoms with Peridot.

“_Ugh, you’re such a slob! _ ” said one of the characters, a spindly redhead. “_At this rate, I’ll be cleaning up after you for the rest of my life! _

“_Oh really? _ ” the other character said, short and stout. “ _he rest of our lives? You romantic, you! _”

This sent the taller one into a stammery, blushy mess, and Peridot laughed. “Hahaha!” she said. “Taking comedic bickering and using it to say something flirtatious yet validating! Ha!” Peridot paused. “You know, these two characters have an _ uncanny _ resemblance to you and Pearl, making their dynamic _ incredibly _ relatable! Truly, these “romcoms” are among the most esteemed pieces of media Earth has to offer!”

Amethyst, for all that it appeared she was listening, hadn’t heard a word after “you and pearl”. Because these two were very much a couple (it was kinda the point of the show), and if she and Pearl were just like that, then... were they... _ also _ romantic?

Were she and Pearl a couple? They didn’t kiss or anything, but sometimes they held hands or hugged and _ sure _ they snuggled up if they watched movies together and Amethyst couldn’t imagine a future without Pearl, but that didn’t necessarily mean they were _ dating_, right?

“...Peridot,” Amethyst said, interrupting Peridot’s spiel. “Are Pearl and I, you know... _ dating?_”

Peridot considered the matter for a moment. “Hmmm... Have the two of you gone on any dates?”

“I... don’t think so?”

“If you haven’t gone on any dates, then you aren’t dating!” Peridot said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Amethyst sighed. “No, Peridot, it’s- it’s a bit more complicated than that? I guess I’m asking if Pearl and I are in a relationship, you know?”

“Why of course!” Peridot said, though Amethyst would bet good money that the little green gem did not in fact know. “_Obviously _ you two are in a relationship! You see each other all the time, how could you _ not _ be?”

Amethyst had long ago learned that if Peridot confidently and immediately gave an answer about anything that wasn’t tech, she was almost _ certainly _wrong, and had misunderstood _ something_. But what could she have- ohhhhh.

“Peridot,” Amethyst slowly said, “when you say relationship, you mean a...” Amethyst faltered. “Well, a _ relationship_, right?”

“Of course!” Peridot said. “A relationship between two people!”

Ahhh, _ that’s _ where it was.

“You mean _ any _ kind of relationship between two people?”

Peridot nodded. “Yes, that is what a relationship is.”

“Okay, but I’m asking if Pearl and I are in a _ romantic _ relationship.”

“Oh.” Peridot though deeply for a few seconds, then said “I have no clue.”

Welp. Really, Amethyst wasn’t sure what she expected. “Well, thanks anyway,” she said. “But now I’ve got to find someone who does know if we’re dating, because I _ don’t _ and, uh, I kinda wanna fix that before I see Pearl again.”

“In that case, you should go find Connie,” Peridot said. “I’ve worked with her before, she’s quite intelligent.”

“Of course!” Amethyst said, snapping her fingers. “Connie’s smart, she _ must _know what our relationship is like!”

* * *

“I don’t have the slightest clue what your relationship is like,” Connie said. She crossed her arms and huffed, sinking deeper into her chair. “Seriously, why do you think _ I _would know?”

Amethyst shrugged. “I dunno, you’re pretty smart? You know lots of things?”

Connie scoffed, as if that were an insult against her honour. “Sure, I know _ lots _ about math and science and all that, but _ relationships _ ? I am _ not _ the woman for the job. Why did you think _ I _, Connie Maheshwaren, would know the slightest thing about relationships?”

Well, uh.” Amethyst scratched her head. “You and Steven are dating, so figured-”

“HOLD UP NOW,” Connie screamed, staring at Amethyst with shock in her eyes, “STEVEN AND I ARE _ WHAT NOW? _”

Uh, oops?

“Yeah, you’re obviously just as bad at this as I am, so Imma just,” Amethyst inched towards the exit out of Connie’s room, “leave you alone and see if Garnet can help me okaybye!”

“Amethyst QuARTZ YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SAY THAT AND THEN RUN AWAY GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW-”

* * *

“You look like you got chased around town by a corrupted Quartz,” Garnet said as soon as Amethyst entered her Little Homeschool office. 

“It was actually Connie, but you’re basically spot on,” Amethyst said, still out of breath as she sat down in the visitor chair. She was pretty sure there was some sort of small animal stuck in her hair, but quite honestly, she had better things to do than fish it out. “G-Squad, I need some advice,” she said. “Relationship advice.” Garnet nodded silently, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Peridot pointed something out and now I’m not entirely sure if Pearl and I are, like, just friends, or if we’ve actually been, y’know, _ together _ and somehow not realized it?”

Garnet smiled patiently, the smile Amethyst knew she did when she was trying very hard not to rub the bridge of her nose. “First off,” she said, “before I say anything, you’ll have to tell me how _ you _ feel about this.”

How Amethyst felt about the possibility of dating Pearl? How she felt about being with the taller gem forever, of walking down the beach, hand in hand, of reaching up and pressing purple and pale lips together...

“Going by your sudden silence, smile, and enormous blush, I’ll assume you’re quite happy with the idea.”

Amethyst looked down, unable to wipe that big dumb smile off her own face. “Am I really that obvious?”

“Yes.” Garnet smiled, and continued; “now, unfortunately I don’t think you two are in a romantic relationship just yet, given how little you fuse, but Pearl quite obviously reciprocates your-”

“What do you mean ‘given how little you fuse’?” Amethyst interrupted. “Pearl and I aren’t the fusing type, G. Even if we were one of those lovey-dovey couples who can’t shut up about how much we love each other and how beautiful our eyes are, we prolly wouldn’t be a permafusion.”

Even though Garnet was wearing reflective sunglasses, Amethyst could tell the older gem was blinking slowly at her. “Amethyst, I- I don’t expect you to become a permafusion, but I expect you two would be fusing more if your relationship was expressly romantic.”

Amethyst shook her head. “Nah, G, Pearl and I ain’t really like that? We’re not like Lapis and Peridot, where neither of us want to fuse at all, but we’re both pretty independent.” There was a beat. “And we can be independant _ together_, you know? Like the song we did?”

Garnet spoke slowly, as if testing the words out; “The... song?”

“Yeah! The song we did about choosing to be together but still being our own people!”

Amethyst paused.

“Oh my stars, _ we did a song about being together! _ Ya get my confusion now, G?”

“Yes, I’m starting to understand,” Garnet said. “I’m also starting to understand that my perspective might not be the most... applicable to your situation.”

Amethyst got up and stretched. “Eh, thanks anyway.” On her way out, she paused. “Actually... Garn-garn, could you maybe use your future-sight to-”

“No,” Garnet said. “As tempting as it may be, I’m not going to tell you how the situation works out, because you can’t cheat into a relationship. It’s a bad idea.”

She paused, as if considering her words.

“You also can’t cheat while _ in _ a relationship, but I’m not worried about that. Goodbye, Amethyst.”

* * *

Amethyst slipped into the dimly-lit greenhouse, as quiet as a mouse. She didn’t want to resort to this, she really didn’t, but what other option did she have? Peridot was clueless, Connie was clueless and out to hunt her down, and Garnet had said herself that she wasn’t the most helpful.

This was Amethyst’s last resort.

“Hey, Steven?” she called out. “You in here buddy?”

A nearby bush rattled, and Steven’s head poked out a few seconds later. “Hey Amethyst!” he said, looking deceptively _ normal_. “What brings you to my humble abode?”

Amethyst swallowed, trying to shove the lump in her throat down to her gut where it could be properly digested and rendered a non-problem.

Stars help her, but she almost felt _ dirty _ as she said “Steven, I... I need your help.”

Amethyst didn’t see Steven leave his bush, but next thing she knew he was standing right in front of her with a predatory hunger in his eyes. “Help? You need my help? You have a problem you can’t solve without my help?”

“Y-Yes.” she said. “I just-” She took a deep breath. “I think Pearl and I might be _ together_-together and I really _ want _ us to be but I don’t want to get it wrong and do something like kiss her if we _ aren’t _ and it’s just-”

Steven gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “Amethyst, I know how scary this might seem, but the worst thing you could do is not talk to Pearl about any of this. Communication is the most important thing in a relationship, no matter how scary or embarrassing it may be.” He winked at her and said “And besides, Pearl isn’t the best at relationships either, I _ really _ doubt she’d hold not knowing against you.”

So she should just... go to Pearl and talk about their whole... everything? Be honest and open with her partner instead of running around like a lunatic, hoping her friends knew more than she did?

“Y’know, that actually makes a lot of sense,” she said. “Thanks Steven, really. You were a _ huge _ help, I couldn't have done it without you."

At those words, he broke out into a huge smile. “Theeeeeere we go!”

“Um, Steven, what are you-”

“Hey there dopamine, haven’t seen you in a while! How ya been, buddy? I’ve missed you!”

“Okay I’ll just see myself out then,” Amethyst said, not that Steven reacted in the slightest. Instead, he just continued talking to himself.

Knowledge had been obtained, but at what cost?

* * *

“Alright,” Amethyst said to herself back in the house proper. “I can do this, this is easy. I just have to go up to Pearl and ask her if we’re dating. No biggie, right?”

Then Pearl walked out of her room, adjusting her _ illegally stylish _ jacket. Amethyst could tell the exact moment Pearl saw her, because the taller gem’s expression lit up brighter than any light. “Amethyst, there you are,” she said, and Amethyst’s heart skipped a beat. “I haven’t seen you all day, how are you doing?”

Oh _ no. _

This was _ yes biggie_.

“Oh, I was just, uh, y’know, hanging around,” Amethyst said, hoping her blush wasn’t _ that _ obvious.

Well, now or never.

“Actually, Pearl, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” At Pearl’s nod to continue, she said; “So I may kinda look like an idiot for saying this, and I may _ actually _ be an idiot for not knowing this, but...” 

Amethyst took a deep breath. “Pearl, are we dating?”

Pearl, for her part, was only shocked speechless for a few seconds. Then her look of shock moved on to one of understanding, the face she made when someone asked a question she knew the answer to. “Amethyst, we’re obviously just...”

She faltered.

“Well, I suppose we _ do _ go out on... and physical contact isn’t _ necessarily... _ ” She rested her chin in her hand, face scrunched up in thought. “Walks on the beach aren't... and we _ did _ perform a musical number about being together...”

Amethyst saw in real time as realization dawned on Pearl, as her eyes went wide, staring at nothing. 

“So did I mention that I have to go see Connie, who is smart and knows things?” Pearl squawked, gesturing madly in a random direction. “Because I do and I need to see her and this definitely has nothing whatsoever to do with that question you just asked me in fact I forgot what you even asked, goodbye I’ll see you tomorrow!”

As Pearl sprinted off in search of... something, though Amethyst had an idea as to what that was, she couldn’t help but realize something important.

Namely, that Pearl was just as clueless about this as she was.

Heh, talk about being perfect for each other.


	41. The Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [realfakedoors](https://archiveofourown.org/users/realfakedoors/pseuds/realfakedoors) for proofreading!
> 
> Prompt: Aging.

** The Deal **

They were twenty-five years old, and if there was a worse time for someone to be dying in a hospital room, Sadie couldn’t think of it.

She sat in the waiting room, gazing at the ticking clock. She could hear the distant beeping of a heart monitor, whispers in the corridors and the squeaking of a janitor’s cart on white linoleum floors. The lights, sterile and slightly too bright, flickered now and again; they illuminated the mint-blue walls and shiny floor tiles in a bloom that irritated her eyes. Next to her sat a pile of dogeared magazines and tabloids, the glossy, smiling, dead-eyed faces gazing blankly at the ceiling. The air felt suffocatingly sterile.

She closed her bleary eyes and inhaled.

She’d been “lucky.”, That’s what the paramedics and the police had said, anyway. If she hadn’t decided to stop to pick some supplies up at the store, and had stayed in the car with Shep… well, they told her the passenger side had taken the brunt of the impact. Her mind begged to differ - had she not made Shep start, they’d have been through the intersection long before the truck, and they wouldn’t be entombed in a ward, fighting to survive the night.

The same words had spilled from everyone who had visited - Steven and Connie, her old bandmates, her mother, Greg; ‘_it’s not your fault._’ Perhaps, but if that was the case, why did it feel so much like it was? If it was as self-evident as they all seemed to think, then why did she need so much convincing in the first place?

There was another flicker - the lights seemed to dull. As they did so, a new set of shoes stepped into the waiting room.

The man wore a somewhat ragged black suit, visibly patched in places. A watch chain was tucked into his waistcoat, and his silk tie reminded Sadie of the colour of blood in a vial after a blood donation. A birch cane was tucked under his arm. His hair, black and swept back, matched the color of his neatly trimmed moustache, and his face looked thin and haggard, carrying dark bags under his grey eyes. Atop his head was a battered, bent top hot. Had Sadie not known better, she would have said he had stepped out of an old western movie.

He tipped his hat as he walked towards the wards - then, quite suddenly, he stopped and turned to face her.

“How do you do, ma’am?” he asked, tipping his hat.

Sadie’s lips thinned.

“Not great.”

The man sat down across from her, resting his arms on his cane. Sadie looked into his eyes, and for a moment she thought she could see swirling mist.

“You’re here for Shep, am I right?”

Sadie’s eyebrows shot up.

“How did you know that?” she demanded.

The man smirked.

“You could say I’ve been sent from on high,” he replied. “It’s a mighty shame, isn’t it? Twenty-five years old, and they don’t even think they’ll make the night.”

Sadie frowned.

“They’ll make it,” she snapped.

The man tapped his cane on the marble floor -  _tap, tap, tap._

“Oh believe me, ma’am, they won’t.”

Sadie opened her mouth to shoot him an indignant reply, but he had already stood up.

“The doctors did all they could, y’see,” he explained. “But their wounds got infected halfway to the hospital and there ain’t no surviving that. That’s why I’m here.”

“Yeah? And who the hell do you think…”

Sadie’s eyes widened as she trailed off.

“Oh… oh god, you’re not the coroner, are you?”

The man’s moustache twitched as he smiled again.

“Something like that,” he answered vaguely.

For a moment, Sadie saw red; it flowed through her, flaming-hot and pulsing, forcing her body to shake from the sheer violence of it. She flew to her feet and jammed her finger towards his nose, her own nostrils flaring.

“In case you haven’t noticed,” snarled Sadie, “my partner is _dying!_ So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t-”

The stranger laughed, neither kindly or cruely, and put his hand on Sadie’s shoulder. It was like she’d been doused in icy water, the rage extinguished in an instant. Instead there came an otherworldly numbness, radiating from his fingers to her form. She still shook, but not from flashing, violent anger, but from a chill that soaked into her very bones. His eyes now resembled a blizzard - his fingers felt uncomfortably  _clammy._

“Ma’am,” he said. “I’m here to make a collection, if you understand my meaning.”

Sadie swallowed.

“You…” she whispered. “You’re…”

“I’m the last friend every human makes,” said the stranger. “Course, you won’t remember this, so…”

Sadie planted her hand on his arm - as she looked at her limb, a strange, uncomfortable sensation of knowledge washed over her. It was as if a name and number was flashing in front of her eyes -  _Sadie Miller. Death: Sixty years from now._

“What the-”

The stranger winked.

“That’s how I know when to collect, ma’am,” he replied. “Now, if you don’t mind, I-”

Sadie pursed her lips.

“I have sixty years left?”

The stranger nodded; for the first time, he appeared somewhat irritable. “You do. I’m afraid I don’t have all night, ma’am, a person dies every three seconds and I have a quota to fulfill, so-”

“Give them to Shep.”

There was a long silence.

“Beg your pardon, ma’am?” said the stranger.

“My sixty years,” repeated Sadie. “_Give them to Shep_. Let them live.”

Silence fell over the waiting room, broken only by the ticking clock - _tick tock, tick tock, tick tock._ The stranger furrowed his brow, his mouth slowly twisting into an amused smile.

“You get your death in sixty years,” he said, “and you want to give that up for your partner?”

“That’s what I said,” replied Sadie.

The stranger glanced at the hallway, down which lay Shep’s ward, and then back to Sadie.

“Ma’am, I need you to understand something,” he said. “Death is something to be _celebrated_. For death is when you are reunited with the family and friends you’ve lost. This here’s a big deal to make, and…”

Sadie reached up, grabbing the stranger’s tie and yanking him down to her level.

“I don’t care,” snapped Sadie. “_Give. Shep. My time._”

The stranger blinked, and for a moment Sadie wondered if assaulting him had been a mistake.

Then he smiled - a smile that bared black gums and yellow teeth, and Sadie caught the scent of his foul breath, like that of a thousand corpses. He pulled back, escaping her grip with ease, and threw his cane into the air. When it dropped back down, it was a scythe, long and black and twisted.

Before her eyes, the stranger decayed, his skin and flesh sloughing off and revealing a grinning skull with eyes of cold fire. The room temperature seemed to drop, and Sadie’s heart began to race.

He raised his scythe, and she closed her eyes. It was worth it, she told herself; she had to do it for them, she had to do it for them, she had to-

There was a blast of cold air, and Sadie opened her eyes.

Death towered over her, the scythe tucked over his shoulder. In his other hand, he carried a glowing fob watch, her picture in the lid. Sadie looked down at herself - she looked exactly the same as she always did.

“I… I’m not dead?” she asked.

“Why would you be?” said Death, his voice deep and snarling. “After all, you gave Shep your time.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Your time until _death_.”

His skeletal hand crushed the watch, and he began to laugh as black fog filled the room. A visceral wave of almost nauseating fear filled Sadie’s stomach - the fog felt almost crushing, like deep ocean water.

“Life is a gamble, and a good death is its final prize,” Death snarled. “But you are no longer a player in that game. _You are merely a spectator._”

He disappeared behind the black fog. Sadie’s breath caught in her throat - she felt like she was drowning, drowning,  _drowning…_

“Goodbye, Sadie Miller. We’ll never meet again.”

For the briefest moment, Sadie felt herself fall…

“Gah!”

Sadie awoke with a start, shooting up in the chair.

She was in Shep’s ward, the early morning sun streaming through the window. Shep lay in the bed next to her, their body covered in bandages, but their breathing slow and steady. Dr. Maheswaran was talking to a nurse next to them, looking decidedly relieved.

“...it was touch and go, but they’ll pull through,” she was saying. “It’s a miracle, really…”

Sadie blinked, a strange, _familiar _sensation running through her as she looked at the others in the room. _Shep Moore. Death; sixty years from now. Priyanka Maheswaran. Death; forty-two years. Alan Davidson. Death; six months from now._

Priyanka turned to her, offering a tired smile.

“Congratulations, Sadie,” she said, “Shep’s going to pull through.”

“I… th-thanks… uh…” Sadie felt her hands shaking. “I need… I need to go to the bathroom.”

Before Priyanka could reply, she shot out of her chair and out into the hallway. Just outside the door, she found the cool kids passing by - she weaved past them, the sensation flashing again.

_ Jenny Pizza. Death; seventy-seven years. Buck Dewey. Death; thirty years. Sour Cream Davis. Death; fifty-one years. _

“Whoa, Sadie, where’re you going?” Jenny called.

The sensation was starting to fade by the time she reached the waiting room, as if the proverbial text in her eyes was disappearing; but it was still there enough for her to sense Lars as she passed him on her way into the bathroom.

_ Lars Barriga. Death: Two point five million years from now. _

“Sadie? Sadie, what’s-”

She slammed the bathroom door behind her and ran to the mirror. She planted her hands on the sink, gripping tightly, and gazed at her reflection, waiting desperately to see what this fading sense said about her.

As she stared at her own face, she sensed total, unfathomably empty _nothingness_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, death is where aging ends, right? It fits the prompt right? :B


	42. The Ante

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Gambling

They lost themselves to each other during a night of videogames and oyster crackers in a halfway-tidy attic.

And in the clear light of day, everything was weird. The players had gone all in, giving into passion, into the closeness of the other. But neither one was prepared for what that meant.

He, insecure and abrasive. She, insecure and nice, nice... too nice, in fact. And they were co-workers first, they had to be able to look at each other during rostered hours. They had to pretend there weren’t feelings there.

But there were, and those feelings were messy.

* * *

He was better at bluffing than she was.

She bested him at gleaning when to fold, only to return for yet another round.

Over and over, every loss stinging, every win a bandaid as they tried hard at the game of Being in Love.

They were scared and both very lonely. Their hands were foul and full of bricks.

But they tried because underneath it all was a genuine care for the other.

* * *

In the ship, during the fight, he lost her in a frantic bid to save himself.

* * *

He was back with newfound drive after a winning streak. He was _here_, having lived at last, despite death. He’d dropped the bluff - he was real, the most real she’d ever known him to be.

She, too, was present and accounted for, the taste of success fresh on her tongue. She, refusing to fold, had found herself against all odds screaming her soul into a microphone. He saw on her face the catharsis that followed.

She had blossomed, he had bloomed.

And all of this without the other.

They discussed the ante. They held their chips tight in their grips.

But they were ready. It was time to bet on other things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some doomed!Larsadie!


	43. Take a Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Gambling

The battlefield was blackened, pitted and scarred with craters and scorch marks. The chaotic battle lines had fallen to pieces, a fierce melee raged between armies bearing golden stars (and the occasional pink rose) and four colours of diamonds.

The personal war banner of the rebellion’s leader was an easy target for the homeworld soldiers. The thorn-wrapped shield kept thousands of blows from her physical form, the great pink broadsword forced soldier after soldier into their gem. 

Holding back as many soldiers from their friend and leader as they could were two of the rebellion’s bruisers. A blue-and-pink fusion with uncannily unpredictable dodges and unerringly precise gauntleted punches formed a barrier to one side. To the other, a tall, stocky gem with wild, iridescent hair and intricately interlocking plate-armour shapeshifted her hands into hammers, blades, and more.

About them all danced a figure whisper-thin, gravestone-silent, wielding swords that had been made for her use alone.

Rose Quartz shouted orders between striking down foes. Garnet and Bismuth relayed them down the battle lines, to lieutenants and messengers, and the Crystal Gem rebellion turned the tide of the battle. Pearl watched over it all, quick, brash, and deadly. More homeworld soldiers fell to just one of her two blades than to quartzes and even agates in the rebel army.

The rebels had been winning more and more battles, lately. 

As the victory snatched from the jaws of defeat turned into a rout and a shattered retreat, five hostile amethysts formed a pyramid, shining gems within forms melting into light before merging into one massive fusion. She charged Rose’s position, as one eye glinted with malice within the gem that shone there.

Garnet and Bismuth laughed, dancing around each other and glowing in response as they charged out to meet her themselves.

They missed the three carnelians who had pulled the same trick and were preparing to drop a massive axe upon Rose’s position.

But Pearl didn’t.

* * *

“Pearl, please. You can’t keep doing this.” The pale gem looked up, dazed, disoriented, from where she'd fallen kneeling on the floor. Garnet was there above her, visor off, three eyes full of so much concern and hurt that the excess spilled out as tears. Pearl felt a brief rush of panic.

“Wh- where am I- Oh.” The rebellion’s current base. “What happened-” she cut herself off again. She’d taken another hit. Destabilized her form once more.

Protected Rose.

So all was well.

But Garnet was still crying, so Pearl reached up to wipe her tears away. “I was just protecting our leader, Garnet. I’m fine, see? No harm done.”

“Rose would have been fine, too,” Garnet deflected, both the words and the offered hand. She wiped her own tears away. “You shouldn’t keep throwing yourself into danger like this.”

The visor was back on Garnet’s face, now, and Pearl didn’t have anything to say, no excuse to give. Garnet was right, after all; Rose could take hits that Pearl couldn’t. Things that would send Pearl’s pearl clattering away across the stone wouldn’t leave a scratch on Rose. 

“If it’s a hit you’re willing to take for her, it’s a hit she’ll survive just as easily as you would,” Garnet said as she turned to lead them both to Rose’s war room.

There, of course, her precognitive friend was wrong. Pearl followed, pondering.

Throwing herself in front of a blow meant for Rose was a gamble, of course. One that she took far more frequently than might have seemed necessary to others- but in her pale blue eyes, she measured the chances and saw each as obligatory. How else could she be sure nobody got the chance to poof Rose? How else could she be sure nobody else saw what her gem really looked like?

How else could she keep Pink’s secret?

Pearl wasn’t the gambling sort of gem, but she knew what her odds of recovery were if something happened to her gem, and she could guess at the odds of the rebellion’s chances if Rose’s secret identity was discovered.

No, Pearl wasn’t a gambling gem, but even she knew there were some bets you just didn’t take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Considered throwing some Connverse there at the end, since there's an interesting parallel to be examined between Pearl's self-sacrificing nature during the rebellion and the selfless actions Steven and Connie take in defence of each other. Maybe for another prompt, the stars aren't in position for that right now, and it feels like a complete little storylet as-is, and besides, it's Jam Bud Week.


	44. A Universal Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The prompt I'm using is "Connie Runs For President"

“Here you go ma’m,” A young man with bleached blond hair says as he hands a cup of fries to a middle-aged woman. A jolly, upbeat tune can be heard. Smiling, he serves the next customer, full of energy and obviously enjoying his work.  “My name is Peedee Fryman,” he narrates, the sound of the shop dying out. “I run Fryman’s Fries, a little fry place over in Beach City. Life is good, you know? I don’t make much, but it’s enough to get by.”

The music dies out, and some colour seems to drain from the scene.

“But…”

On his way to the fry machine, Peedee steps on a puddle of oil that’s dripped onto the floor. In slow motion, he slips, arms spinning wildly, plunging backwards, until his head smashes into the counter with a resounding  _ clunk _ .

Darkness.

“Without medical insurance, one injury would be enough to ruin me.”

Peedee sits in a hospital bed, facing a doctor. He’s pale, wearing a drab hospital gown, and has bandages wrapped around his head. 

“-so avoid any physical activity, and stay in bed as much as possible,” the doctor finishes saying. “Now, including the ambulance fee, your total cost is thirty-thousand dollars.”

Peedee’s face contorts in shock and horror. His face is already pale, but the little colour left drains when he hears the doctor’s words. “Thirty  _ thousand! _ I don’t have that kind of money!”

The doctor shrugs, light reflecting off his glasses. “Sorry kid, that’s just how it is.”

Two vertical lines appear, covering the scene. The view pans backwards, revealing that the scene was playing out on an old TV set. A young woman holds a remote in her hand; her skin is the colour of chocolate and her dark hair is tied back in a ponytail. She wears a perfectly-tailored suit, and her expression is deadly serious.

“That may be the way things are,” she says, voice crisp and clear, “but is it how things have to be? One injury shouldn’t be enough to ruin a person's life, and under my system, it wouldn’t be.”

She smiles confidently and unwaveringly. “I’m Connie Maheswaran-Universe, and I’m running for president. For those of us without magical healing husbands, one injury can ruin your life. If you elect me, I can  _ promise  _ you that nothing like this will ever happen to you or anyone you love.”

The view fades to grey, and a set of white letters reading 'CMU-2028' appear over her. A voice, nasally and feminine, says “Connie 2028; because you deserve the universe,” before the scene fades to black.

* * *

“Aaand cut!” Peridot snapped the clapperboard shut, a wide grin on her face. “Great work everyone, that’s the final take!”

Connie let put a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding, her shoulders drooping and her fake camera smile transitioning into a genuine smile of relief. Turning to the side, she said “I think that went well, how about you?”

Sunstone grinned, as Sunstone was wont to do. “Yeah Connconn, you were incredible, and using my powers like this was genius!”

Connie chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head. “Well it’s not  _ that _ groundbreaking, and really it was all Pearl- right, right, just take the compliment.”

Sunstone chuckled and, in a flash of light, separated back into Garnet and Steven. Steven ran up to Connie and enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug, bouncing on his feet as he did. “You were incredible!” he said, practically squeaking. Connie couldn’t help but smile, her husband’s infectious energy rubbing off on her. 

“Steven’s right,” Garnet said, her soft smile still in place. “But before we all forget, you have an interview with MBB in half an hour, and then a rally in Gator Swamp, and then-”

“Right!” Connie said, slipping out of Steven’s embrace. She planted a quick peck on his cheek, then said “Busy schedule, need to stay on task, thanks for reminding me! Bye Steven, see you tonight!”

As Steven watched Connie go, he couldn’t help the thought that made its way to the front of his mind;  _ I am going to make a  _ great _ First Man. _


	45. Election Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Connie Runs For President

** Election Night **

The mood at Connie’s campaign headquarters was tense. The candidate herself paced back and forth, occasionally glancing at the map on the big screen. Behind her, Pearl flipped from news site to news site on a tablet, her brow furrowed. It was down to the wire.

It had been a long night.

It had been a long  _year._

At the start, things had looked good. Connie had swept Iowa and New Hampshire without issue, won big on Super Tuesday, and had the nomination clinched long before the convention - long before her opponent. She seemed popular, and if people weren’t sold on her, there was nearly nobody Steven couldn’t charm. Sure, the party had forced some limp-wristed establishment type as her running mate, but she could live with that.

She hadn’t fathomed just how _low _her opposition was willing to go.

There was no run-up, no easing into the vicious attacks. He’d held a rally which had essentially served as a long character assassination of herself, her husband, her town and the Gems. She remembered it well, and still felt incensed as the words ran through her mind.

“They say she’s forty-six. _Forty-six years old. _She doesn’t look a day over twenty-five. And what does she say? Her husband has magic healing powers. Are people actually falling for this crap?!”

“And let’s talk about her husband. He’s just standing up there like…” _He waved his hands as he launched into his grotesque impression, _“‘...oh, we all need to get along! Everyone have a hug, everyone be peaceful.’ And I’m just thinking… I’d never hire this guy. He’s got no machismo. No killer instinct…”

“Gems. Let’s talk about gems. They’re not citizens. They don’t pay taxes. And yet, and yet, under Governor Maheswaran, they’re allowed to vote. That’s crooked. She’s been fixing elections in Delmarva with these illegal aliens, and now she wants to fix the federal election. Well, you know what I say to that? Send them back.”

Those three words had come to define her opponent’s campaign; _send them back. _They had power, and not only on the other side. She remembered a phone call from the party headquarters a week after the convention.

“_Look, I can’t tell you how to run your campaign, but I think you should consider a harder stance on gems. And have you considered getting a human campaign manager? It’s more relatable._”

Not only had she refused to do that, she’d made a point of including Pearl in her next rally.

Then came the debates. The first had been a disaster - the network in charge had known people wanted to hear her opponent spout drivel, and had slanted their questions in his favour. She doubted it was political - it was all for the ratings. But she’d been left firmly on the defensive, unable to bring up her healthcare and foreign policy plans. She’d tried as hard as she could to look calm and composed, but Pearl had had a decidedly sharp conversation over the phone with the network afterwards.

The next debate was on much more equal ground, which to her opponent’s supporters meant it was unbalanced and unfair and evidence of a conspiracy. (She didn’t take that too hard - her very existence seemed to be evidence of a conspiracy.) There was a dark satisfaction in watching her opponent squirm when forced to talk about things that actually mattered, like doctor’s bills and taxes and NATO, while she handled them with practiced confidence. The papers the next day declared her the clear victor; although it was somewhat sullied by her opponent’s penchant for standing creepily close to her as she took questions from the audience afterwards.

It was embarrassing enough for her opponent that he actually boycotted the third debate, to much derision. It ended up simply being Connie answering questions about her policy plans.

The Vice-Presidential debate was effectively two empty suits droning on about the 25th Amendment, and was thus ignored.

As November drew ever closer, things seemed to get more and more dangerous. Implicit threats, stoked on by her opponent, soon began to flood onto Twitle and Headbook, with hateful hashtags like #SendThemBack and #LockThemUp. There were calls to have her deported to India (never mind that she wasn’t even a citizen there.) Both platforms refused to do anything about it, even after Headbook’s creator was pulled in front of a Senate sub-committee.

At a rally in late October, she’d found herself suddenly shoved from the lectern by Garnet - which turned out to be a good thing, as a second later there was a loud _crack_ from the back of the auditorium, and a bullet whizzed right through where she’d been standing. By the time police had subdued the would-be assassin, a few spectators had been injured, though thankfully nobody was killed. It left her deeply shaken, but she forced herself to keep going.

All that had led to tonight.

It had started out well - Empire State declared for her, then California and the Pacific Northwest and all of her party’s normal shoe-ins. Her opponent took the south, which was to be expected, but by 10pm she had a solid lead.

Then states stopped being declared for her.

Ohio. Michigan. Northern Carolina. All states she had hoped to flip now came up in her opponent’s colour, staining the map. There was a brief burst of hope when she took Pennsylvania, but then Florida declared for him. And suddenly, it was down to the wire.

Twenty points left. Wisconsin and Minnesota. He needed one. She needed both.

“I brought you some water.”

Connie was broken from her thoughts by Steven, who had brought her a glass of water.

“Thanks,” she replied, surprised at how hollow her voice sounded. “Uh, any news from Congress?”

Steven’s wince told her everything, but Pearl spoke up regardless.

“CCNN declared the Senate for them,” she replied. “54-46.”

“_54-46?_” Connie repeated. In her head, she pictured that ogre of a Senate leader preparing his victory speech.

“There’s one in doubt,” added Pearl, “Which means we _might _not be looking at 55-45.”

Connie felt her knees weaken, and she sat down.

“The House,” she said, her throat dry. “We can block them from taking the…”

“It’s not looking good there, either.”

Connie buried her face in her hands.

“You couldn’t have _lied?_” she muttered. “How bad?”

“They’re looking at… about 250?”

Connie groaned.

“Okay,” she muttered. “Does anyone else have any bad-”

“Dudes!” Amethyst burst into the room, followed by Peridot.

“MNMBD says Nanefua lost!” she exclaimed, her voice shaking slightly.

“_What?!_” Pearl began frantically checking her tablet.

“But… but this is…” Steven seemed to freeze, going somewhat pale. “But Delmarva went for Connie… Nanafua’s in the same party, I…”

“No coattails,” whispered Connie. “We’ve had no coattails. We’re _losing_ seats. H-how…”

“Because humans are _clods,_” said Peridot bitterly.

“Peridot!” exclaimed Pearl. “Don’t-”

“No, she’s right,” snapped Amethyst. “Connie was offering them hope! All he was giving them was trash about hating people! Why would they vote for him?”

“Tax breaks,” replied Connie quietly. “He promised tax breaks and-and security and… and rolling back all the things they don’t like. He won because…”

Her voice shook slightly.

“...because there are people who’ll never accept that you’re American,” she continued. “Who’ll never accept that _I’m_ American. And too many people who don’t care about…”

“Hey, hey!” Steven pulled Connie into a hug. “It’s okay, he hasn’t won yet, we’ve still got a chance…”

The door opened once more - Bismuth leaned in.

“CCNN’s calling Wisconsin!”

Connie pulled out of Steven’s hug and changed the channel on the big screen; away from the quiet map and to CCNN’s panel. Half of their table looked like the world was ending; the other half were barely concealing their glee. With practiced professionalism, the main anchor was speaking.

“_With 85% of the votes counted,_” said the anchor, “_we can now officially call the state of Wisconsin. CCNN now projects that the ten electoral college votes in Wisconsin will go to…_”

Connie clenched her fists. The anchor hadn’t really paused, but it felt like he had.

“_...Briggs. This means that Marty Briggs is now President-Elect of the United States._”

There was a long, long silence. Connie felt weak - it couldn’t be! He couldn’t have won! He was a record company CEO, an Empire City personality, a failed businessman, he couldn’t… he  _couldn’t!_

He had.

“_...we are now going to Briggs’ headquarters in Empire City for his victory speech._”

“Stars…” Bismuth shook her head.

“Like I said,” spat Peridot. “_Clods._”

“Peridot, I-”

“Yeah, _clods_,” snarled Amethyst. “C’mon, I’m done with this - let’s go home, Peri.”

She stormed off, Peridot following. Bismuth remained, walking inside and collapsing onto a chair next to Connie, watching the victory speech in silence. Marty was on the podium, his adoring crowd chanting that ugly refrain - _“SEND THEM BACK! SEND THEM BACK!_” - as below him, the news ticker revealed yet more bad news; _Nanefua Pizza gives concession speech. - DOW Jones projected to drop. - Russian President to send President-Elect Briggs official congratulations._

She wasn’t listening to Marty’s speech. There was nothing new to be heard from that bitter old man, save for a throwaway line about getting the Justice Department to investigate her for ‘faking her age.’ She barely felt Steven’s hand on her shoulder, unconsciously tightening as he listened to his dad’s old manager speak, or heard the sounds of Pearl’s feet clacking on the floor as she anxiously paced.

She had lost. Completely and utterly. It was over; the party would never choose her as a candidate again. She felt utterly done.

“_In a democracy,_” declared Marty smugly, “_we get the government we deserve._”

For the first time in his entire candidacy, Connie thought bitterly, he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this isn't a happy story lol.


	46. The Parting Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alone

# The Parting Gift.

~*~

Yellow, cyan and a bright white light lit up the night sky and cascaded down from somewhere in orbit.

The air around them vibrated. The ground beneath them shook.

Violently, it swept the Earth

And just like that, it was over - the rebellion, the invasion, the light-

The searing light they’d been saved from by the shield of <s>a diamond</s> a rose.

* * *

Once again the air was still, exactly as it had been before.

They’d been protected from the blast itself, but were compelled all the same to shut their eyes tight as it swept past. Gem’s eyes didn’t usually need to readjust to the darkness but this light, while it existed, had been much different from any other. Although their eyes had been shut, it still pierced through their eyelids. It still blinded them.

Otherwise, they were okay. Confused, but okay.

Around them in the dirt lay strewn the gems of their friends who, right up until the light overtook them, had been fleeing. The material weapons they’d left behind were scattered alongside them, all objects in the dust.

The enlarged shield remained in place in the air in front of them and Pearl, now back on her feet, glanced around to take stock.

“Rose?” she asked. Her unsure tone was a drop that was quickly absorbed in the ocean of silence that covered the landscape.

Rose looked down at her briefly before continuing to stare up at the sky, eyes narrowed. Though her shield at last disappeared, she herself remained silent. Pearl joined her in glaring at the sky, but saw nothing of interest besides the familiar stars.

Not far from them stood Garnet, ostensibly surveying the damage. Before her lay two gemstones, thudded into the dirt where they’d fallen. Although she was looking down at them, she didn’t see them.

She instead saw a future completely alien to her. A path forward that made no sense.

_Their friends - they would all be coming back! For a moment, there will be joy. But their shapes, their shapes... their horrible shapes-_

Pearl, of course, wasn’t privy to Garnet’s thoughts. She spotted a nearby gemstone and left Rose’s side, stooping to pick it up. She gazed at it intently in the low light, turning it over and over in her hands.

_-distorted, instead of the gems they’d known and loved, there were monsters, here. Monsters skulking about the Earth-_

“She seems okay,” said Pearl with clear wonder in her voice. “No chips or cracks…” She held it aloft and stared into its translucent interior, which glittered blue-ish in the starlight. Owing to the elongated hexagonal facet, she thought she had an idea of who this could be. Little Larimar, perhaps, a diminutive and pleasant if odd gem, but there was something wrong, something strange about the stone.

She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, exactly, but was willing to put it down to poor lighting as she carefully picked up another to inspect.

“They seem _fine_,” said Pearl at last, blinking in surprise. She cast a glance around the other nearby stones littering the ground. There wasn’t a broken one amongst them. “The attack can’t have had an effect.”

“We... won?” asked Rose, her attention now wrenched from the empty night sky to shoot a glance at the fusion. “Garnet? Does this mean we’ve _won?_”

Pearl blinked, and a slow smile crept across her face. “We finally drove them from Earth,” she said softly.

“We won!” exclaimed Rose, her countenance giving fully into relief, and Pearl leapt into her arms. They laughed together. The war had gone on so long.

Garnet wanted beyond anything to share in her friend’s joy, but instead shook her head. She removed her shades to have them disappear as she held them. Grimacing, scrunching her lower eyes tight shut, she cast her net wide into the river of time once again-

_MONSTERS RISING FROM THE LIGHT OF THEIR GEMSTONES DAMAGED FOREVER DAMAGE FROM THE DIAMONDS SKULKING THE EARTH RUNNING FIGHTING HIDING BEREFT OF THEIR OWN SELVES FEARFUL FOREVER AND EVER AND-_

“No-“ came Garnet’s coarse whisper. But it was the same, every time. The same miserable, baleful vision.

Rose by now was talking excitedly with Pearl.

“I can’t wait to see their faces when everyone reforms,” Rose was saying. “Do you want to tell them the good news, or should I?”

“I always knew this day would come, my Rose,” Pearl said, smiling bashfully as they embraced once more.

“They should be coming back soon, right, Garnet?” asked Rose.

The fusion blocked them both out. All of her eyes except the third were shut and her pent fingers clawed at her face as she attempted in vain to understand what she was seeing.

There was no other possible future. Just this one.

One of the gemstones before them came back to life. It rose glowing from the dust.

Rose and Pearl watched it levitate and hover not far away from them. They watched it begin to spill out a form - another bright light, but a welcome one this time.

The gem’s brilliant marionette cycled through forms until it began to glitch and splutter. As Rose and Pearl watched, their expressions began to fall.

Tears slid openly down Garnet’s face as she looked on, helpless.

The thing taking form before them was so far removed from a gem that it was laughable. It was a mockery of gem life, a multi-tongued beast with wild hair and claws. When it noticed them, from its chest it rendered a gem-shattering scream that in no way seemed sentient. It didn’t recognise them. It couldn’t. None of them ever would.

The rebellion was over. The remaining diamonds had abandoned Earth, and this was their parting gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it’s an old prompt but I missed it because I was one of the later additions to this group. Nonetheless, I’ve had this idea kicking around in my head for a while.


	47. The Seller

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Jewelry Store.

** That Gem in the Window **

There were many fine jewelry stores on Fifth Avenue, but the Seller believed his was the finest. It always had been, because he’d always been able to source the rarest and most valuable jewels in the world. The display in his window was meticulously arranged to show off the loveliest gold rings, the most exquisitely cut diamonds, the best necklaces on the market. All of his most expensive wares stood in that window, enticing the peons inside to spend far too much on the more pedestrian (and indeed, often _fake_) stones inside.

It had also enticed a pair of Gems, horrified that he had apparently taken their own kind prisoner.

They were an interesting pair, this ‘Aquamarine’ and ‘Ruby.’ They’d given his security guards a run for their money, at least until one of them had pulled a gun. He remembered Aquamarine sneering at humanity’s primitive weaponry, disappearing into a puff of smoke mid sentence as the guard fired. The Ruby took a little more force, but eventually, both of their gems lay on the ground.

And that gave the Seller an idea.

There were a few cases of extra strong glass in the back - they were for the most valuable of his jewels, those plundered long ago in Africa and India. He had the two gems placed inside, and waited to see if they could reform. After a few hours, Aquamarine made an attempt - the light stopped against the night-unbreakable casing, and after much straining, subsided. Several more attempts by both Aquamarine and Ruby later, and the Seller was convinced.

The new exhibit took pride of place in the store window, and became an advertising feature; ‘come and see the amazing, glowing jewels! If you’re lucky, you may see the light show!’ Business went up as people came to see, and almost always went home with a trinket to remember their business.

As he looked at his profit returns, the Seller wondered if, perhaps, he could find more Gems for his window. Maybe one day, he thought, maybe one day...


	48. Shopping About

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Jewellery store.

‘Native metal’ is a term used to describe metals found in nature in their pure metallic form- unalloyed and unoxidised. Earth has about 34 native metals, and all of them could be found within Bismuth’s forge. The proprietary smith knew where they all were- she could grab them from their bins without even looking, measure the ore and filings and scrap by hand while carrying on a conversation, and pull an ingot of pure metal from the lava just in time to ask what you wanted made with it. This job asked for something representative of Earth- so a native metal it'd have to be. Some of those metals (looking at you, mercury, tellurium, and arsenic) wouldn’t be worth considering for this project due to their toxicity, others (hello indium, cadmium, and zinc) for their softness or brittleness.

They considered adding alloys to their list of options, but ultimately decided that there was such a thing as too much choice- if alloys were their preference, they needed a base metal first, anyway.

Eventually they narrowed their list of metals down to the classics. Gold was always in fashion, but wouldn’t fit with her preferred blue colour scheme. Neither would copper. Silver was always nice, but Bismuth recalled similar jobs for the Crystal Gems’ human allies during the rebellion. In her experience, unalloyed silver had a tendency to tarnish when worn as frequently as these would be.

So, the final verdict was in the favour of platinum bands. Twisting lines of light on the surface would (when in proper lighting) create teal-blue strata on his. A faintly magical hammered-in inlay that would catch the light and reflect it red would create (in the right conditions) little pink flowers on hers. 

The delicate customers were ushered out, the hot magma poured in, her hands were hand-shaped no longer, and blacksmith Bismuth worked as a goldsmith for a few days. The magic on these rings was far less complicated than, for example, Garnet’s- these didn’t have to bind to a gem’s physical form and retreat into the gemstone when the form destabilized.

Aesthetic magic only, on these- but only a fool would imply that she took any less care in either job. She’d get these perfect first time, and that meant labouring patiently and working with precision measurements and fine tools (fingers instead of hands).

Connie hadn’t known what to expect when Steven invited her to go shopping for rings, but she wasn’t at all surprised when their destination ended up being Bismuth’s forge. The wedding bands- made to order and delivered by hand, precisely on time- were not quite the final stage in their preparations.

But as the matched engagement swords on the mounting boards in their bedroom could attest, they certainly weren’t the first stage, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This doesn't fit the prompt _precisely_ but it's the first thing that came to mind for me. Jewellery shop -> shopping for wedding bands -> getting wedding bands from Bis.


	49. Gems are a gem's best friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Jewelry Store.

As she stared at Diamond Diamonds, the most successful (and first) gem-run jewelry store in Empire City, Peridot couldn’t help but sweat. Metaphorically, of course, but sweat nonetheless. There were (metaphorical) butterflies in her (metaphorical) stomach, making her (not metaphorically) feel like throwing up. 

What she was about to do would shape her future with Lapis and Amethyst and all the other Crystal Gems. If this went well, she would have a future together with them, holding bejeweled hands and walking into the sunset. If not…

Peridot didn't like thinking about that.

Shaking her head, Peridot took one last look at the jewelry store that was about to change her life. Getting  _ jewelry...  _ it was more than a bit on the nose, and Pearl would no doubt be disappointed in her symbolic abilities, but then she wasn’t doing this for Pearl, was she? N o, the time for doubts was over. If she was gonna get these precious gems for her precious gems, she had to act.

And so act she did. Slipping on her mask and taking out her antique laser pistol, Peridot kicked open Diamond Diamonds’ door and yelled “Everyone get on the ground, this is a robbery!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally planning on making this into a full Thing, but then the inspiration left me sooooo have this instead!


	50. Pink Autumn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lion. CW: Major character death.

If a tree falls in a forest where there is no air for vibrations to propagate through, does it make a sound?

Lion was dying.

It had been hard for Steven and Connie to accept, at first. Like the gems, he had seemed ageless. Unshackled from the ever-turning wheel of time. But there had been time; centuries, millennia even, to come face-to-face with the reality of the situation.

Lion himself hadn’t even shown the first signs. That honour went to their mutual (and equally, magically pink) friend, Space Pirate Captain Lars.

For starters, there was the slowness of the heartbeat Steven had heard moments after Lars’ revival- the slowness was less significant than the presence of the heartbeat in the first place. What use would an ageless being of magic have for a pink heart that sent pink blood around a pink body?

There had been a subtler sign, too. Not the sort of thing noticed on the timescales of humans (weeks, months, years), no, but over the course of centuries and millennia, it became obvious that Lars was still ageing. 

Lion aged too.

The normal ravages of time didn’t seem to faze the majestic beast; his teeth stayed sharp, his eyes remained clear, his limbs kept sturdy. But on the timescale of gems, hybrids, and- apparently- those organic beings restored to life by Diamond powers, Lion aged.

Most visible was a subtle change to his colouration. A lightening of the pink around his muzzle from brilliant pink to a fading pinkish-white. His mane, and the rest of his fur in general, seemed to desaturate as well. Throughout the process there was a pink tinge to him, but there were signs of wear to his coat, now.

And there was another sign; Connie had been the first to point it out, in the early days when he was still mostly pink. Lion was a cat, and sleeping remained his favourite pastime, coming before even hunting semi-magical lizards, eating mediocre novelty ice creams, sitting in boxes far too small for a fully-grown great cat, and knocking things off of Steven’s desk.

He’d been sleeping more and more, though. By the time he’d faded in colour enough to be confused for something of White’s, he spent much more time asleep than awake.

The last sign was the coming of autumn to the plane in Lion’s mane. The pink leaves from his tree had gathered at the base of its trunk, as the branches bared themselves to the airless realm.

It had only been a few decades since then, barely more than half a century. In that time, Steven and Connie had taken the unprecedented step of moving house (again), back to Earth, this time. They’d thought it best to take him home.

They’d mourned before. Beings as old as Gems and Gem Hybrids got good at mourning, with all the practise they got. Steven’s father had been one of the earliest, but many humans had followed; those who didn’t want a gem, human friends old and new across the galaxy, had had funeral invitations sent to a Diamond who always attended.

Lion wasn’t quite a pet, though he lived with Steven and Connie (when it suited him) and ate what they fed him (if he wanted to). He wasn’t quite a friend, though he understood them (mostly) and spent more time with them than most had, over the millennia. 

Lion had been a constant, and with the onset of the eons he wasn’t going to be anymore. Fifty years (and change) had been long enough to come to terms with that.

Futile pink tears flowed onto his faded mane, all the same, when his ancient eyes fell shut for the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.


	51. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Lion.
> 
> Connie and Lion go for a run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based on a story from Hadithi's excellent [Connie's Little Universe.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20522012/chapters/52080184)

It was hard for her to describe it as anything except vaguely cosmic.

It had just been a bit of fun, a ride on Lion to relieve stress after a long day of classes. Steven was out at his therapist meeting, so it was just the two of them; just a little Lion n’ Connie time. (It at least got her away from her normal downtime activity at the moment, which was playing Civ V until time lost all meaning.)

It seemed Lion had a lot of pent up energy, because he’d portalled straight to the Mojave Desert and gone full pelt, racing along the dry plain at a speed she’d rarely seen him do, even in their most frantic battles. She threw herself into holding on, to guiding him as they rode, the practiced bond between rider and steed that she’d long learned to perfection.

At some point, it became something  _more._

They approached a rock face, closer and closer at speeds no lion should have ever been able to achieve, and heaved upwards, climbing the near vertical surface - as they shot upwards, the barrier between rider and riden sloughed away, becoming less and less relevant with each leap upwards. By the time they reached the top, feeling the hot rock and sand beneath their paws as the wind ran through their mane and hair, they had just about forgotten it had existed. They felt their pent up energy ache inside and wanted more.

A roar in perfect harmony with a shout split the air, and a portal opened before them. They leapt through, hurtling through the space between spaces, farther and farther, and landed on a white surface beneath an ink-black sky, a blue marble overhead.

As they charged on, they yearned for what felt missing - a sword in their hand held aloft, a threat to face, a friend - no, more, a mate, a ward, a soul bonded companion beside them. They missed the chaos of battle and the glory of triumph, for all it’s melancholy rewards.

They roared towards the Moon Base, a hand reaching out to open a door it had long been given access to. They shot through and bounded upstairs, past the dormant orb and into the chamber that had belonged to Pink Diamond. There, they stopped and gazed at the planet they called home - the planet that felt far, far too small.

With two mouths and one mind, they roared.

Connie blinked, the rush wearing off. She felt her hands in Lion’s mane, and no longer felt the polished surface beneath his feet. She ran a hand through her hair and rolled off his back, laughing nervously as she gently floated to the floor.

What was that? _What was that?!_ For a moment, there had been no distinction between Connie and Lion; they had been the same in body, mind and soul, and she had done things she shouldn’t have been able to do - she’d been on the surface of the moon, exposed, and hadn’t died! What did that mean?!

She rubbed a hand over her face, the somewhat hysterical laughter fading. Stars, that had been… that had been…

She sat up, shaking her head. 

She needed to talk to the gems about this.


End file.
